The U.S. military and industrial complex will use Russian aggression against Georgia as an excuse to amp up military and verbal aggression against Russia in general. I believe it is an attempt to marshall world opinion against Russia so that the U.S. and possibly NATO, can continue to further their interests in that region.
From Bruce Gagnon, political organizer and author:
It's all about oil and natural gas. Russia has the world's largest supply of natural gas and Iran has the world's second largest supply. There is much oil and natural gas up in the Caspian Sea region. Which ever country controls this part of the world will have a jump start in controlling the keys to the world's economic engine for the foreseeable future.
and maybe this is why NATO isn't so eager to jump into the fray and condemn Russia:
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are small areas on the border between Georgia and Russia where the majority of residents belong to ethnic groups other than Georgian. During the Soviet era, both of them were semi-autonomous areas under Soviet control.
In 1990, after Georgia became independent, Georgia claimed both areas as part of Georgia.
Russia opposed this claim as did residents of the areas, and Russia forced Georgia at gunpoint to allow autonomy to both regions in 1992, and both regions have been acting as de facto independent countries since then.
Peacekeepers from Russia commissioned by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been stationed in both countries since then.
as far our involvement, I think Gagnon, who links to several articles in his notes, sums it up for us:
After the so-called Rose Revolution and the overthrow of Edward Shevardnadze in 2003 it became a policy of the Georgian government to repudiate the independence of both regions and to work for re-establishment of Georgian control.
In 2006, a referendum was held under OSCE supervision with 34 observers from Poland, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. The referendum drew a 95% turnout and voted 99% in favor of full independence.
Georgia rejected the results, claiming that ethnic Georgians were intimidated out of voting, and arguing that the Russian peacekeepers actually were supporting the Ossetians.
Meanwhile, Georgia developed a close relationship with the Bush administration and cultivated a relationship with the EU, beginning application for membership in both the EU and in NATO. Georgia has the third largest number of troops in Iraq, after the US and Britain. The US has supplied the Georgian army with a large amount of war material.
In mid-July of this year, the US military held a joint war games training exercise in Georgia with the Georgian military.
Will the proposed stationing of NATO troops in Georgia, actually serve to further American and global capitalist corporate/oil interests in the region?
Or should we be saying, hands off Georgia and the entire region?