Georgia, actually სáƒáƒ¥áƒáƒ თველრ“Sakartvelo,” is an ancient land. Part of the Silk road, nestled between mountains and seas: the Caucasus on the north and the Meskheti Range in the South; between the Black Sea and Azerbaijan (which is on the Caspian). It is a beautiful country, with a wide variety of ecological zones. The peoples of this small nation (about the same size and climate as the state of Washington in the United States) have alternately been unified or part of small principalities and kingdoms over the last 3000 years. There were Greek colonies along the Black Sea in ancient times, Arab invaders, and more recently the Russian empire annexation of Georgia in the 1800s.
It was this old relationship that prompted the Soviet Union to take over Georgia soon after the fall of the Tsar. In the last twenty years, with the breakup of the Soviet Union, Georgia once again was independent. But not at peace. It was another several years, with civil conflicts and coup d’etats, before a relatively stable democratic republic was established.
So in one sense Georgia is an ancient land, in another it is a very new country. Its people are hardy, and have survived many hardships and changes… but every conflict takes its toll on culture and economy. The landscape is devastated, the people uprooted, and each time the recovery is longer.
The current situation appears very bad. It has taken a week for other countries to really take notice of the increase in conflict between this very small nation and the behemoth to their north. But the roots of this started two decades ago and more.
I am not going to assign fault to any one party at this time. However, there are chilling similarities in this conflict to the annexation of Poland by Germany at the start of World War Two, and Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union. I do say that the distraction and waste of resources in Iraq has made nations that would formerly have had both the will and the power to intervene much less willing or capable.
Hitler and his cronies made the mistake of thinking once that Europe was fair game, open for the taking. They were wrong.
I think that there have miscalculations in this conflict as well. On which side remains to be seen.