I am not certain why Russia chose to attack Georgia. There are, however several factors that may be examined to make an educated guess. First; I think it is important for people to understand that Russia lost more people in WWII than the total of all of the cumulative losses for all the other countries in world. Russia has always been paranoid. Perhaps Georgia drew too near to Nato and the countries around Russia were always her buffer zone. Imagine, then for a moment, how the U.S. might respond to Canada being a major power with philosophies counter to those of the U.S. We havent lost huge numbers of people to other countries, but I suspect that we would still be terrribly paranoid about that kind of issue. In addition there is an extremly strong ethnic group of muslims in Georgia. Russia has been experiencing the effects of terrorism in the last few years. I am sure that plays into it also. Then there is the oil card. Russia’s pipeline runs through Georgia. Oil is big; oil is money, oil is power. Finally, Russia was once a major player in the political scheme of the world; one of three super powers. Undoubtably there is a faction of the old guard that would love to see the glories of a great and powerful Russia reestablished. Putin came into power because Russian citizens saw him as an individual who could reawaken pride in Russian people. They voted for him and put him in office. I don’t think that he kills babies and eats them for breakfast. I think he like all of the rest of us; he loves his wife, he is proud of his children, he has headaches sometimes, sometimes he doesn’t sleep too well. I suspect that he is pretty much like the rest of the people in the world. What makes him different than others of his race is that he is a nationalist. When we, in the west, examine Russian goals and philosophies we must understand that the goals of other countries in the world do not coincide with those of the U.S. What is good for Russia is not always the same as what is good for the U.S.

Russia invades Georgia