I don't see how "hypocritical" applies to Georgia or Russia here. Like Rottshild said, Georgia was foolhardy and rash to engage Russian backed separatists in South Osettia like they did (they should have, I'm just saying how they did wasn't the best way), while Russia was... well, Russia. Hypocritical doesn't really apply to Russia, because they're not fooling anybody in the West and they're not pretending to be "the good guys" to anyone else but their citizens.

But that "nations don't invade other nations" crap - that's the real deal.

Well, Russia is hypocritical for the reason stated in the clip. Russia has been fighting against the independence of Chechnya for many years, now they say South Ossetia should be allowed to become independent.

All sides have lied and accused the other sides of lies.

All sides claim to be fighting for people's peaceful future but are fucking it up instead.

Looks like the major opposition in Europe to Georgian membership in NATO has fallen away now, and Germany's Merkel has gone from opposing it last spring to now saying it's going to happen. In that case, combined with NATO and the US' now increased military relationship with Poland and Ukraine, it looks like the West comes out on top.

Yeah, but pretty much everyone knows it's Osettian freedom to organise a "democratic" and "fair" vote to join the glorious Empire of Russia they're fighting for. South Osettia couldn't even support itself economically (no real industry/agriculture), there's nothing there, mostly rocks. Abkhazia, on the other hand, could take cue from Moldova and actually be self-sufficient, mainly via tourism, cause it's got vinyards, beaches and spas. But Russia will probably annex it, too, as Kremlin's already got their sights set on Crimea.

>> ^cybrbeast:
Well, Russia is hypocritical for the reason stated in the clip. Russia has been fighting against the independence of Chechnya for many years, now they say South Ossetia should be allowed to become independent.

>> ^chilaxe:
Looks like the major opposition in Europe to Georgian membership in NATO has fallen away now, and Germany's Merkel has gone from opposing it last spring to now saying it's going to happen. In that case, combined with NATO and the US' now increased military relationship with Poland and Ukraine, it looks like the West comes out on top.

Imagine if Georgia was already in NATO, then we would be at war with Russia. Such an unstable state as Georgia is not ready for NATO.

^Russia and the NATO countries play geopolitical games, as we're seeing here, but even the hawks in these governments would go to enormous lengths to avoid an actual military conflict.

On Russia's side, the Russian capitalist elites want prosperity and to continue enjoying their time abroad, and Russia can't fight the whole world. The NATO nations together have about 15 x Russia's GDP (30 trillion vs. 2 trillion USD), or almost half of humankind's total GDP).

On NATO's side, they would certainly ensure Georgia doesn't do anything stupid and stays on the straight path of democratic development.

>> ^chilaxe:
On NATO's side, they would certainly ensure Georgia doesn't do anything stupid and stays on the straight path of democratic development.

On the path to democracy?
excerpt from link:
Nov 9, 2007

"That hardly squares with this week's violence—or with 15 days of martial law imposed by Saakashvili yesterday and expected to be ratified by parliament by the end of the week. All demonstrations are banned; all media is under temporary state censorship. The opposition-supporting Imedi TV station was forced off the air as riot police stormed into the channel's buildings late Wednesday night. News Web sites have also been closed."

Lets hope this was just a bump in the road to democracy, I'm skeptic though.