Also see: Georgia Invades Russia
"Georgia attacks breakaway capital; Fighting deepens fear of full-blown conflict in region" by Margarita Antidze, Reuters | August 8, 2008
MEGVREKISI - Georgian troops, backed by warplanes, pounded separatist forces on the outskirts of the South Ossetian capital today, hours after launching an assault on the breakaway region following a short-lived truce.
Georgian artillery shelled Tskhinvali, where government and separatists envoys had been due to meet for Russia-mediated peace talks later today. Many houses were ablaze.
Russia, main backer of the separatists who have controlled the region since a war in the early 1990s, accused Georgia of treachery and urged the world community to avert "massive bloodshed." The crisis fuelled fears of full-blown war in the region, which is emerging as a vital energy transit route and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.
Yup, the "Great Game" the U.S. is currently losing in the region.
That explains the flare-up, doesn't it?
In Tskhinvali, thousands of people took refuge from the shelling in make-shift shelters in the cellars of their homes. Russian television showed pictures of houses on fire.
Officials from the two sides had been due to hold peace talks at a Russian peacekeeping base but Georgia accused separatists of shelling its villages and launched the large-scale military operation.
And CUI BONO?
Also see: The US' Soviet Servant
Interfax news agency said Georgian forces had launched a tank assault on the southern outskirts of Tskhinvali, which is about 60 miles north of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi."
