It’s not to late to get a better understanding of the conflict between Russia and Georgia. If you read only one article to get that understanding, I strongly recommend the New York Times article Taunting the Bear.
If you decide to read only two articles about the Russia/Georgia conflict, perhaps the second one should be this now-infamous question posed on Yahoo! Answers, in which a concerned writer from the state of Georgia — as in Jimmy Carter’s home state, Atlanta, Coca-Cola and peaches — asked why she didn’t see any sign of the Russkies:
Whether the question was posed by someone who is genuinely clueless or by a prankster, it’s pretty funny. I wouldn’t rule out the former, though.
Have a good April Fools’ Day tomorrow, but be mindful about your pranking.
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And here I thought this entry was going to be about Bigfoot.
Hey Joey,
I just noticed that the 'Website' text entry box in the commenting section here limits the number of characters. I cannot enter the full url of my blog in the space. What's up with that, huh?
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/
Please, man, stick to whatever you understand. I hoped that at least your blog will stay away from this.
@The Sloth: If you're going to imply that I don't understand the situation, you'd better be prepared to back the implication up. What is it that makes you think that my understanding of the Russia/Georgia conflict is deficient?
@Paul: I'll see about increasing the limit of characters allowed in the "Website" text box.
Backing it up: few other articles are actually including an August 7th in the time line. Which can shift accents, slightly.
From you I would expect a better analysis, that's all.
@The Sloth: That's the New York Times' call, not mine. The article, despite its age (10 days) is still the best and clearest summary of the roots of the conflict that I've been able to find online. I think it's a pretty good starting point, and I'll link to equally good articles about the conflict as I find them.
You're right: I could go into greater depth about the issue, but I squeeze blogging into my schedule where it fits, and it's a busy time for me, hence my quick approach of finding good articles and pointing to them.
What worries me even more than the question is the fact that the correct answer got 20 "thumbs-up" but also 14 "thumbs-down"
The IHT had an interesting analysis of the conflict, pointing out that NATO was quick to support Kosovo's independence but for some reason not South Ossetia's ... because Georgia is supporting the Iraq invasion.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/18/europe/assess.php
Funny, I was on a conference call last week with a sales guy who had just moved from NJ to "somewhere in the south" and when he was filling up at a gas station, he overheard someone at the next pump say something to the effect of "I've got a cousin in Atlanta, I hope the Russians don't get him." The sales guy said he laughed for 3 hours straight and called all his buddies back in NJ to tell the story.