I am very confused with the media coverage of this conflict. For years, South Ossetia for some reason has been 'included" as a part of Georgia - South Ossetia has tried free and fair elections only to have them voided by Georgia; Georgia has been working on legally forcing South Ossetians to only speak the majority language of Georgia, has tried to intimidate South Ossetia into giving up their culture and replacing it with Georgia's culture. That's just the tip of this iceberg.
These "conflicts" have been ongoing for the last (approx.) 100 years.
This is what I posted on the other Georgia v Ossetia board:
"Having said that, Georgia is no saint either; there is much history behind Georgia/Russia/S. Ossetia/N Ossetia, not to mention US involvement in this region, and why everyone wants control of South Ossetia; major transport routes, gas & oil pipelines, etc..
The Ossetians are spread across several countries including Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and others. The home base is Ossetia itself which is also divided between countries; the north in Russia and the south in Georgia. The goal of the South Ossetian separatists is to either gain its independence or unite with North Ossetia, which lies in Russia.
Ethnically, the Ossetians are of Iranian stock and speak their own language, which is closely related to Pashto, and more distantly to Farsi.
They claim to be the descendents of the ancient Alanian and Scythian tribes and therefore to have been inhabiting the South Caucasus for thousands of years.
The Georgians, on the other hand, are a Caucasian people and speak a language belonging to the Caucasian family. The Georgians also claim to have ancient roots in the South Caucasus, while at the same time arguing that the Ossetians only migrated to the Caucasus between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Along religious lines, both are predominately Orthodox Christian, with a Sunni Islam minority among the Ossetians.
Therefore, the conflict between the two peoples is not based on religion, but rather on ethnicity, and territory.
This is not the first conflict between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia - it's been a hot zone since the turn of the the 20th century."
sherry
It seems like everyone is pissed about America sticking their noses into other people's business. Is it just me, or is our ally the one who is in the wrong here? South Ossetia has been a soverign nation since 1992... thats 16 years! What makes Georgia think they have the right to reclaim it now? And the fact that we are on Georgia's side simply because they supported us in Iraq is rediculous. Isnt it plain to see that the Georgians are the aggressors? In my eyes, the Georgians are no better than Iraq when they tried to take Kuwait. Why do we support this?!
