Georgia

Well, Georgia and Russia have now signed a cease fire agreement, and Russia will begin to withdraw troops on Monday.

What the Russians have always wanted is to be able to kick Georgia in the teeth regarding the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and they did, and under the terms of the cease fire, they get to keep troops there, and in a "buffer zone".

What's more, they are installing SS-21 missiles in South Ossetia, and possibly Abkhazia, which can cover most of Georgia.

Truth be told, nothing shows Georgia's defeat more clearly than the words of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now pleading to mend fences.

Saakashvili's political platform has been almost exclusively about putting the boot back on the neck of the Ossetians and the Abkhazians (once again proving that there are no good guys in the Caucasus), and now he is trying to make nice with the Russkys.

Interestingly enough, if you believe in signs of the apocalypse, a Washington Post OP/ED is suggesting that the knee jerk anti-Georgian reaction is unwise.

Of interest to the war buffs, this article, if I read the numbers right, suggests that the number of Russian troops sent into the region were not hugely larger than the numbers for the Georgians, even though the Georgian military ceased to function as a fighting force within about two days of their intervention.