Word: georgians
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When Russia sent shells raining down on Georgia, it seemed initially as if Vladimir Putin was savagely pursuing what he saw as Russian national interests. Moscow claimed Georgian aggression against Russian loyalists in South Ossetia and has objected to both Georgia's bid to join NATO and the Pentagon's arming and training of the Georgian military. But a closer examination of the run-up to Putin's inexcusable invasion suggests that Russia's action had as much to do with its wounded pride as with its alleged impaired security...
...consequences of emasculation. Having neutered Germany following World War I, the Allies showed West Germany respect after World War II, investing heavily in its economy and absorbing the country into NATO. And while President George W. Bush seemed unconcerned about Russia's simmering fury when he lobbied for Georgian and Ukrainian entry into NATO earlier this year, many European governments rejected the proposal, showing that they - perhaps because of their own history - were more attuned to the risks of compounding Russia's growing and alarming sense of victimhood...
...Gori, its turret pointing east toward the capital, Tbilisi. Three armored personnel carriers seal off the rest of the thruway; one churns up the asphalt and repositions itself in the bushes. A handful of Russian special forces crouch next to their rocket propelled grenade launchers and eye the Georgian positions a few hundred yards away. In the valley behind the Russian units, in Gori itself, a column of thick black smoke billows skyward...
...road to Gori - which is also the main artery linking Black Sea ports in west Georgia with the capital and points east, and which has been cut since the weekend - was supposed to have been clear on Wednesday, following a cease-fire between Russian and Georgian forces on Tuesday. The Georgian government announced its opening last night. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had planned to visit the town tomorrow, taking this road. But earlier today it remained cut off by Russian troops. Georgians, even senior politicians, as well as aid workers and journalists, were being turned back, reflecting ongoing...
Behind the lines, meanwhile, in territory still nominally under Russian control, reports are emerging of widespread looting and some killings by Ossetian civilians, much of it directed at Georgians. Georgian soldiers and some refugees also allege that civilians from Russia, including Cossacks and Chechens, are flooding into areas that remain under Russian military control to take advantage of the lawlessness...