Word: russian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...TIME's special report on the Georgia-Russian crisis...
After years of escalating border incidents, war began in earnest the night of Aug. 7, 2008, when Saakashvili, who says he believed a Russian attack was imminent, ordered the shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. It was a colossal miscalculation. Saakashvili told me he never expected the U.S., Georgia's closest ally, to fight for Georgia. Yet the country was nonetheless gripped by a sense of abandonment when the inevitable punishing Russian counterattack came. The Russians bombed infrastructure targets all over Georgia and cut off the main east-west highway, then marched to within 34 miles...
...liberal democracy can thrive on Russia's southern border, other struggling former Soviet republics might follow suit. And since the Caucasus region is a key route for getting Central Asian oil and gas to Western markets without going through Russia, Georgia could help lessen the West's dependence on Russian energy. But first Georgia needs to become stable, peaceful and prosperous. History will judge Saakashvili, and all his enthusiasms, on whether or not he can make that happen...
While the U.S. has threatened Iran with new sanctions over its controversial nuclear program, it has yet to secure the support of its prospective ally. During an Oct. 13 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called a fourth round of sanctions "counterproductive" and reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to continuing diplomatic talks with Tehran. Lavrov's statement came just three weeks after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signaled an openness to sanctions. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, declared that it was too early to scrap negotiations, telling reporters, "There is no need to scare...
...drew international condemnation. The unnamed firm will dig for diamonds, gold and bauxite and provide Guinea with much-needed revenue as it faces the prospect of economic isolation. The deal--which could give Guinea's $23 billion GDP a massive boost--puts China in direct competition with U.S. and Russian mining companies. China's trade interests in Africa have increased tenfold since...