Why Georgia Why??

Georgia. No, not the state, the country. This has been the setting for perhaps one of the most landmark events in the last decade of Russian- American relations. Unfortunately, it would seem that the bad continues to get worse. In the recent weeks following, what appears to be a dispute over the two countries' border, we've watched as Russia has pummeled highly western favored Georgia. We've seen multiple cease-fires agreed to and we've also seen them broken by the Russian Armed forces. One anchor described the scene accurately saying, "we can no longer treat Russia like a paper tiger." Personally, I think this is the beginning of the souring of an already stretched relationship. Russia in recent times has begun to look more and more like the regime that we squared off against some many years ago. They have a leader in Putin that will not exit office. They've increased the power of their government while simultaneously decreasing human rights. But what's really bizarre to me is that the people prefer this type of government. Russia in a nutshell is embarrassed. They still see themselves as a world superpower and they want to re-assert themselves as such. I think that's why specifically we see them on the wrong sides of a lot of political issues (i.e. anything to do with Iran). I'm hoping that this issue will continue to diffuse over the next week, but I honestly think that we're just hitting the tip of the iceberg.