In another stunningly bad development for Vladimir Putin, Georgia has become the first nation to break diplomatic relations with neo-Soviet Russia. Georgia’s parliament has voted unanimously to repudiate Russia, and the last Georgian diplomat will leave Moscow this weekend. Russia, in turn, will be forced to close its embassy in Tbilisi.
The U.S. government responded as follows:
[We] don’t find any of this surprising, given the actions of the past three weeks. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are a part of Georgia under UN-recognized laws, in fact, laws and Security Council resolutions that Russia itself has supported. Georgia’s territorial integrity should be intact. We continue to be dismayed that Russia has not fulfilled all of its requirements in the peace agreement. Georgia is going to need the support of the world. And you’ve seen across the board countries coming forward to announce their support for Georgia and condemning the actions of Russia. And the results of that are that Russia is increasingly isolated and will bear the consequences of that isolation unless they fulfill that agreement and then make amends.
The U.S. says that under the France-brokered ceasefire agreement, August 6th is the status quo ante, and this precludes any military basis on the territory of Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Rather than seeing its overwhelming repudiation by the entire planet as a warning, Russia has instead chosen to escalate the conflict. It has already begun to discuss annexing the newly “independent” territories, and it has directly provoked the United States by imposing an arbitrary ban on the import of American poultry. This action flies in the face of the interests of the people of Russia, who already face massive inflationary pressures due to the lack of domestic food production, and will not harm the U.S. in the least. It is comical, and pathetic, the sign of desperation and worse to come.
This can only mean that more nations will break off diplomatic relations with Russia, and already (as we’ve previously reported) Russia has suffered massive losses in foreign investment, with billions of dollars in outflow over the course of just a few days and a devastating drop in the stock market. Voice of America states: “Bloomberg News reports the Russian ruble is headed for its biggest monthly decline against the U.S. dollar in more than nine years as investors reduce their Russian holdings. In addition, Russia’s Central Bank says the country lost more than $16 billion in the week following the launch of military operations in Georgia on August 8. Financial observers attribute the loss to nervous investors pulling capital from Russia.” Russia’s economy depends on importing foreign consumer goods because the country’s economy is far too anemic to meet demand, and even more so on purchases of Russian fossil fuels.
These are exactly the same crazed policies that destroyed the USSR. And what else can we expect from a country governed by a proud KGB spy?
La Russophobe 
Consider this for a second. Let Abkhazia and S. Ossetia go. Let those two thug-filled cesspools join the bigger one to the north. Georgia is a western country that without the headache of the two worthless provinces can more easily integrate into the West. Without Abkhazia and S. Ossetia the last stumbling blocks to NATO will have fallen. Let them go and have Georgia admitted into NATO immediately. Then, start building up the defensive infrastructure, starting with several purely defensive Patriot batteries to counter the Russian air and SS-21 threat.
Well, it looks like Kokoity drank the 3 liters of red wine to celebrate the “independence” S. Ossetia for nothing.
S. Ossetia is to become part of roosha.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4635843.ece
This has got to be a Guiness record for the shortest-lived “independence” of any country.
Hey, kids, can you say “rashan imperialism”?
Sympathetic western words to the Georgians:
(said with a voice full of empathy):
“Is there ANYTHING! we…can…DO?-
….short of actually helping?”
Putin will go to his deathbed or insane asylum before he lets Georgia join Nato. Putin’s grand 2020 plan is to put Russia in control of the majority of the World’s oil and gas supply. The only way Putin can accomplish this goal is to control the production and flow of oil not only in Russia but in the former Soviet Republics. The Georgian pipeline threatens Putin’s grand plan because it allows countries like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan to send oil to Europe and America via Georgia through the Caspian Sea.
By capturing Georgia, Russia would cut off that oil link. This is impart why the US and Europe are fighting so vociferously against Putin. If the Kremlin were able to control such a vital resource, the whole world would be held hostage.