re·vanche

[stilltrucking]

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A usually political policy, as of a nation or an ethnic group, intended to regain lost territory or standing
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/revanchist

Georgia's unhappy fate is that it borders a new geopolitical fault line that runs along the western and southwestern frontiers of Russia. From the Baltics in the north through Central Europe and the Balkans to the Caucasus and Central Asia, a geopolitical power struggle has emerged between a resurgent and revanchist Russia on one side and the European Union and the United States on the other.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... v=hcmodule

The US has long publicly stated that it is in favor of a peaceful settlement of Georgia's disputes with its breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Yet Saakashvili decided to send troops into South Ossetia, anyway. That appears to have been the spark that set off the crisis – or the provocation that Russia was waiting for.

Perhaps the Georgian leader thought the US would come to his aid if he got in trouble. If so, he did not take into account the drain that Iraq has been on US forces and the US standing in the world – or the American need to work with Russia on other important geopolitical issues, such as the effort to curb Iran's nuclear program.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0813/p01s ... tml?page=2

Last week, Georgia's president invaded South Ossetia during the night, much as Adolf Hitler invaded Russia in 1941. Within hours, Georgian troops destroyed Tskhinvali, a city of 100,000, and they killed more than 2,000 civilians. Almost all of the people who died that night were Russian citizens. They chose to become citizens of Russia years ago, when Georgia refused to recognize South Ossetia as a non-Georgian territory.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... inionsbox1

[stilltrucking]

Georgia invades breakaway South Ossetia province; Russia sends in tanks
Alex Rodriguez | Tribune correspondent
3:45 PM CDT, August 8, 2008
MOSCOW - Georgian troops launched a massive assault on the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Friday, taking control of much of the region and bringing Georgia's U.S.-allied government closer to the brink of full-scale conflict with Russia.

Just hours after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a cease-fire with South Ossetian separatist troops, Georgian military forces unleashed a barrage of shelling on the province's capital, Tskhinvali, late Thursday and early Friday. By the morning, Georgian tanks had entered the South Ossetian capital.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... ?track=rss

Russia 'invades' Georgia as South Ossetia descends towards war
Russian tanks have entered Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, pushing the troubled region closer to all-out war

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... s-war.html

As Russian troops continued to manhandle parts of Georgia on Friday, President Bush chastised Russian leaders that “bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century” — and then flew off to Crawford.

His words might have carried more weight if he, Cheney and Rummy had not kicked off the 21st century with a ham-fisted display of global bullying and intimidation modeled after Sherman’s march through the other Georgia.

We knew we could count on the cheerleader in chief to be jumping around like a kid in Beijing with bikini-clad beach volleyball players while the Re-Evil Empire was sending columns of tanks into its former republic. (Georgia made the mistake of baiting the bear.)

If only W. had taken the rest of his presidency as seriously as he’s taken his sports outings
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opini ... ref=slogin

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a06_1218 ... west_first