Perun said:Look at it this way: Russia is blowing a regional conflict way out of proportion by bombing Georgian cities and harming innocent civilians. A report I read yesterday said the entire port of Poti was destroyed by a Russian air attack, and this is set to throw Georgia's economic development back by decades. As I said earlier, Georgia is fucked because Russia doesn't like it.
Ok, I don't know enough about this conflict to point any fingers. I read this thread and got a basic idea. And I quoted what Perun said here because essentially that's what I see. Regardless of who started this, who is on what side, where Ossetia is, which member of this forum is squabbling with another member (please guys, can we stop the personal attacks?), for me it boils down to this: Russia did not have to attack towns in Georgia proper, it smacks of asking for more trouble and I think this is what has led to everybody (NATO, the West, whatever you want to call it) judging Russia to be the villain out for conquering Georgia. LC's above piece of news certainly won't help that view. Still, I don't judge Russia per se (although I do think Putin fancies himself a bit too much a modern day Stalin), what I condemn is the killing of innocent people, men, women, and children. While this forum may be adult enough to discuss things in a civilized manner, it is unfortunate to see that other parts of the world can't solve conflicts without pulling out machine guns and massacring the fuck out of each other.