It looks like Cold War 2 is now underway in the caucuses, and you can bet unlike a leering Putin, the United States isn't taking it sitting down. After the Russian Foreign Minister announced that Georgia could forget about retaining its two breakaway provinces, as the French-brokered-cease-fire would insist, the United States has dispatched secretary of doom Condoleeza Rice to Tblisi the Georgian capital.
So far, not even Russia seems to know what they are doing so far into Georgian territory. In fact, the Russian forces have occupied nearly 1/3rd of the nation, and despite Prime Minister Putin's claim of a withdrawal, the Russian forces are within reach of the provincial city of Kutaisi (just outside Tbilisi). The French-brokered-cease-fire insisted on Russia's withdrawal to August 1st lines, which would place South Ossetia and Abkhazia back within Georgia's border. At this time, it doesn't appear that Russia is going to let go of the gains made in the last few days.
In addition to appearing as a reunification of former Soviet states, this land grab has netted Russia a strategic hold on 3 of the major sweet crude pipelines flowing from the Caspian. Wit the aforementioned pipelines closed down, it is unclear as to whether or not this battle will effect global markets.
The United States relief effort began on Tuesday as C-130's delivered pallets of food and water as well as medical supplies and applications for entry into NATO. While all this has been going on, Poland has agreed to house an American missile defense battery on their soil, further chilling relations with the Russian government.
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