The Russia Georgia War -- One Year Later

Russian soldiers prepare tanks at the Tskhinvali military base on Aug. 7, 2009
DMITRY KOSTYUKOV / AFP / Getty

In South Ossetia, Families Remain Torn Apart -- Time Magazine

The Russian-patrolled border that separates South Ossetia from Georgia snakes its way across sunny fields cut with trenches and through quiet woods spotted with landmines. The only visible signs of the border's presence are where it crosses roads. At these crossings, flags snap in the breeze and opposing soldiers sit just 60 feet from each other behind sandbag walls. But for many South Ossetians and Georgians with family on the other side of the border, the nearly invisible line is as divisive and impregnable as the Berlin Wall once was.

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More News On The Legacy Of The Russian - Georgian War

The fog of war: Unravelling the Ossetia conflict, one year later -- The Economist
Georgia: One Year Later -- Forbes
A Year After Georgian War, Refugees Still Coping With Losses -- Washington Post
Russia plans no troop boost in Georgia rebel regions -- Reuters
A Year After War, S. Ossetia More Dependent on Russia -- Time Magazine
Ossetian elderly live in ruins and pain -- RT (Video)
South Ossetia’s Eduard Kokoity rules out new aggression from Georgia -- The Telegraph
An eerie tension in the Caucasus -- The Moscow News
Georgia-Russia: What We Still Don't Know -- CBS News

My Comment: The legacy from this conflict is going to last for decades.

Another Foreign Challenge For Obama: Georgia-Russia

A Russian soldier walks past destroyed Georgian tanks in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali during August. Photograph: Denis Sinyakov/Reuters

From McClatchy Newspapers:

TBILISI, Georgia — When Russia's tanks and fighter jets invaded Georgia last August, the Kremlin said its aim was to stop genocide in the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia. In a few days, Georgia's military had slaughtered some 2,000 people there, Russian officials and their allies in the South Ossetian government claimed.

Last month, however, the head of the Russian federal prosecutor's task force examining the war said the toll was 162 civilians and 48 Russian soldiers killed.

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My Comment: President Obama will perceive Russia to be more important that Georgia. His policies, unlike President Bush, will reflect that.