On news from Eastern Europe.

Dear Vladimir Putin's sock-puppet President Medvedev,

Let me make sure I've got this straight:

Your neighbor (and former Soviet state) Georgia had some of it's provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, attempt to break away in the early 1990s. From what I've read, the Ossetians have a distinct culture and want to try and have a go at running things by themselves. Georgia isn't too chuffed about this, but it seems to me to be a (more-or-less) internal matter, from my way of thinking. It would have been nice if Georgia's neighbors (like you and the rest of the former Soviet Bloc) interceded politically to keep your little part of the world from getting even messier, and maybe help make sure that their cease-fire sticks.

Instead, you offer the South Ossetians Russian citizenship, then invade, effectively splitting Georgia in half, and making the rest of the world wonder if they've been living in a Tom Clancy novel for the last week or so.

I speak for most of us here when I say, "wha?" I realize that I'm just a stupid American who barely understands the decisions his own government makes, but could you kindly explain the situation to me in a way that makes sense?

Thanks,
arib



(I realize I'm probably missing lots of details, but writing it down has actually helped me make some sense of things...)

On news from Eastern Europe.

Dear Vladimir Putin's sock-puppet President Medvedev,

Let me make sure I've got this straight:

Your neighbor (and former Soviet state) Georgia had some of it's provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, attempt to break away in the early 1990s. From what I've read, the Ossetians have a distinct culture and want to try and have a go at running things by themselves. Georgia isn't too chuffed about this, but it seems to me to be a (more-or-less) internal matter, from my way of thinking. It would have been nice if Georgia's neighbors (like you and the rest of the former Soviet Bloc) interceded politically to keep your little part of the world from getting even messier, and maybe help make sure that their cease-fire sticks.

Instead, you offer the South Ossetians Russian citizenship, then invade, effectively splitting Georgia in half, and making the rest of the world wonder if they've been living in a Tom Clancy novel for the last week or so.

I speak for most of us here when I say, "wha?" I realize that I'm just a stupid American who barely understands the decisions his own government makes, but could you kindly explain the situation to me in a way that makes sense?

Thanks,
arib



(I realize I'm probably missing lots of details, but writing it down has actually helped me make some sense of things...)