While the eyes of the world were focused on Beijing and athletic competition, Russia and the Soviet Republic of Georgia participated in a deadly competition of their own: a conflict now being referred to as the Russia-Georgia Conflict.
It is a conflict with a long history, but the latest chapter began on August 8 when military troops from Russia entered South Ossetia, a state that has declared its dependence from Georgia, with the stated goal of removing Georgian troops from the region. Georgian troops had been present as self-proclaimed "peace-keeping forces," monitoring criminal activity in the region, but on August 7 their efforts became offensive as they initiated air strikes on South Ossetia rebel forces.
According to the Republic of Georgia, just as rebel forces had become aggressive toward Georgian cities, Russian troops had slowly been building a huge presence in the region. On August 8, in response to air raids on South Ossetia by Georgia that killed hundreds of civilians, Russia marched full force into South Ossetia and not only chased the Georgian troops out of the state, but also invaded Georgia and embarked on a bitter four-day killing spree that included air raids and bombings and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians while raising civilian death and injury tolls into the thousands.
The cause of the conflict goes back to the fall of the former Soviet Union, the division of states, and then the succession of certain states from Georgia, including South Ossetia and Abkhazia. .
According to the Associated Press, NATO came out in support of Georgia after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev refused to comply with a cease-fire order brokered for the two nations by France.
The conflict is far from over, as debate over who started it in the first place continues. According to Georgian officials, Russia started it by mobilizing tens of thousands of troops near South Ossetia rebel strongholds, supposedly as part of a military exercise.
