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It all kicks off in the
Caucasus; Provocative western-facing President Saakashvilli of
Georgia invades South Ossetia to protect its citizens from supposed
"ethnic cleansing" by Russia - which is issuing Russian
passports to all South Ossetians who can pronounce "gulag".
Russia decides this is enough of an excuse to invade the place
- which it has coveted (alongside Abkhazia) because of oil resources
- and clear out Saakashvilli's troops. If needed, there is always
the pretext of hideously complex historical ethnic tensions to
fall back on in these post-Soviet squabbles. Big papa bear Putin
lets Little bear Medvedev ostensibly run the inevitable over-egged
assault . This allows him to strut around a bit while the pathetically
lame Dubya quacks his last quacks. Any protestations from Bush
would not bother papa bear. Condy is sent in to save a little
face for Saakashvilli with a nice little peace treaty.
The Independent on Sunday;16/8/08 |
