Told ya so!

Krazy at the Broom points out that a European Union - commissioned inquiry into the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia was started by Georgia. I always maintained and argued that was the case. Not because I'm a pro-Russian nut, but because I don't buy into Western delusions.

Just because a government declares itself friendly to the West and looks to NATO and the EU doesn't mean it is a democratic, legitimate or intelligent government. Saakashvili, the Georgian president, has no grasp of international politics and lives in his own la-la-land where he can prod Russia and the West will not only support him, but defend him in battle when the fuse blows.

Russia has no use for such a pawn, or for the two breakaway regions straddling the Russia-Georgia border. There's nothing to be had there except mountains, poverty, smuggling, regional ethnic hates and trouble begging to boil over. But when a hostile government breaches a ceasefire treaty and starts shelling your own citizens, one has to react and bury the enemy's army under a cloud of Grad missiles.

The August conflict taught Georgia a lesson: the pawn cooled his heats and toned down the rhetoric. Until that nut is ousted from office, the Caucasus will always remain a gunpowder barrel ready to unleash its shock waves.