Not only them.In fact a lot of more now they are called autonomous republics including Chechnya and more.
emm......I think all of the above are countries now and do not "belong" to Russia as you said. From now on I will ignore some of your questions.
Please read carefully,if you are not learn something about Russia I advice you learn more.There are a lot of Autonomous Republics in Russia now.A lot of them declared Independent in 1990s.
Ok,that means you are a Russian Citizen? You need to know how the world think about Russia. I don't hope Russia is a killer,that is not good for world.
There is only one way this planet has to go in order to thrive in the future of diminishing energy sources... Working together instead of fighting stupid wars. Maybe this idea of One World Government actually makes sense...
Well, here is the situation. I am not russian, and we have many arguments with them too and sometimes fights with so called russian skin-heads that hate us. This is a confrontaion of North Russia with us (south), they even dont like south russians that are russians, so I guess its an inside problem like in any other country (Italy for example). However, for us its better to be with Russia than to be another small instrument in hands of US, like it is Georgia now. I also would not want to be independent, cos as a part of Russia I know I will live better + enough of fights we had in 18th century when Russian Empire invaded Caucasus.
With its South Ossetian operation, Russia has demonstrated three things. First, it has shown that its military is capable of mounting a successful operation — something that outside observers had expressed doubts about. Second, the Russians have shown that they can defeat a U.S.-trained force. And third, they have demonstrated that the United States and NATO are in no position to intervene militarily. Get all the breaking news about this conflict on http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/
Well lets be honest, 1000 amateurs in a sport versus 11 pro's, the amateurs could definitely win with shear numbers and power. I don't see how it shows the US and NATO is in no position as it's not even a NATO member.
Certainly, I agree Russia is far stronger than Georgia. There is no contest. The Georgian president was counting on US and NATO to support them just in case Russians decided to react. Its a "democracy" and George Bush's closest ally. Furthermore, there are reports that upto 1500 US Army personnel trained Georgian Army. There are some reports of foreigners being caught in South Ossetia fighting on Georgian side. We will know in a couple of days who these foreigners are...
Maybe US trained Georgia but thats no way the training US has. US fights in a massive scale thus requires other techniques and training. Basically it doesnt matter who trained Georgia so your point is kind of useless. I agree with your other points.
I think European countries and the US are going to try to mediate for peace. I don't know what they will suggest, but here is my idea: What if a cease fire was signed between Russia and Georgia, the US could be committed to use their influence with Georgia to make sure they keep their side of the bargain. In return, the Russians could stay out of Georgia, but the Russians can take control over South Ossetia. What do you think?
Georgia is not up to NATO standards in training and equipment. Approx 6,000 Georgian troops have been trained by the US. 2,000 of these troops are in Iraq. In any case, 'training' is a loose term and even a few days would be considered 'training'. The Georgians have limited forces and I believe only around 200 tanks and 20,000 men plus reserves. The Georgians would have to pull back and not risk encirclement as they only have 4 brigades. The US and NATO are in a position to intervene militarily. Turkey, a NATO member, borders Georgia and the US could eaisly more F-16 and F-15 fighters into the area. NATO has 4x the population as Russia and is far more powerful. However, Georgia is not a NATO memeber and the alliance is not obligated to its defense.
You forgot about the fact, that at that night when georgian army attacked the souh ossetian capital they had x14 more troops than the russian peacekeepers. Its only about after 10-15 hours Russia sent its 58th army, which is about the same amount as georgians. Update: French foreign minister arrived in south ossetia, he said that US should not be involved in talks between Russia & Georgia, cos US backs up Georgia. EU should resolve this problem. Ha) If you are going to compare a NATO vs Russia then start counting the russian allies too.
Listening to Putin, Medvedev is the same as listening to Bush and some european weasels from Brussels. It seems like russians learned rhetoric that has to be used when justifying military actions Comparing NATO and Russia and taking population into account when calculating military might is off. The subs are there on both sides...hidden and looking...
I hope the US opts not to get involved in this. It sounds like a huge mess and a war with Russia at this point would be a disaster.