What happened between Russia and Georgia?
Derek Stroop
Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: Opinion
The Olympic Games are supposed to be a time when all countries come together and celebrate peace, goodwill and just have fun. Unfortunately, this August was fraught with an invasion of Georgian and Russian troops into a small breakaway enclave called South Ossetia. There is some debate over who the actual "invaders" were and why both Georgia and Russia sent troops in. What in the world happened?
Before opinions get injected in this, I think it's appropriate to lay down what actually happened August 8. South Ossetia is a small breakaway region of Georgia that has been trying to secede from the Georgian nation since 1991. Recently, they have carried out small attacks against the Georgian government.
Georgia saw this as a threat and sent in tanks and ground forces to retake the province by force and to reunite it with the Georgian nation for good. Russia saw this action as an attack against them because they had been supporting South Ossetia's secessionist government for years and even issued Russian passports to their citizens.
Now, the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia had both been part of Georgia since the beginning of the state, but due to nationality differences, they both split. In 1991, the areas officially split from Georgia and Georgia launched an unsuccessful invasion of South Ossetia. In 1993, they invaded the region of Abkhazia and were once again defeated. They were also defeated a third time in 2004.
Now, in 2008, when South Ossetia launched several strikes against the Georgian state, they decided enough was enough and decided to invade the region for a fourth time. This time the Russians would get involved in defending the breakaway region who now housed Russian soldiers.
When the Georgian army killed Russian soldiers, Russia sent massive amounts of troops and tanks into the region, beating back the U.S. trained Georgian soldiers.
With some background information, it is safe to draw opinions and conclusions. Was Russia's intervention and fighting really necessary? Objectively, I say yes, their attack was warranted.
Before opinions get injected in this, I think it's appropriate to lay down what actually happened August 8. South Ossetia is a small breakaway region of Georgia that has been trying to secede from the Georgian nation since 1991. Recently, they have carried out small attacks against the Georgian government.
Georgia saw this as a threat and sent in tanks and ground forces to retake the province by force and to reunite it with the Georgian nation for good. Russia saw this action as an attack against them because they had been supporting South Ossetia's secessionist government for years and even issued Russian passports to their citizens.
Now, the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia had both been part of Georgia since the beginning of the state, but due to nationality differences, they both split. In 1991, the areas officially split from Georgia and Georgia launched an unsuccessful invasion of South Ossetia. In 1993, they invaded the region of Abkhazia and were once again defeated. They were also defeated a third time in 2004.
Now, in 2008, when South Ossetia launched several strikes against the Georgian state, they decided enough was enough and decided to invade the region for a fourth time. This time the Russians would get involved in defending the breakaway region who now housed Russian soldiers.
When the Georgian army killed Russian soldiers, Russia sent massive amounts of troops and tanks into the region, beating back the U.S. trained Georgian soldiers.
With some background information, it is safe to draw opinions and conclusions. Was Russia's intervention and fighting really necessary? Objectively, I say yes, their attack was warranted.
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