Russia vs. Georgia: Why Are they Fighting?

If you are anything like me, last Friday was the first time that you heard that the country of Russia had a beef with the country of Georgia. In fact, it may have been the first time you heard of the country of the Georgia.

Therefore, it must have been a bit confusing to hear that all the war mongers like Dick Cheney and Bill Kristol are calling for us to get involved in this new war.

I wanted to know two things:

Why are Russia and Georgia fighting?

What business does the United States have in this one?

I didn't know where to look for this information, however, because the television media is only offering opinions, as opposed to explanations, and the AP is basically just giving violence-as-sport updates on the fighting.

So I turned to Rachel Maddow and, as expected, she explained what is going on. My plan was to summarize what she said but the geniuses on her staff posted the clip on her blog. God bless Dr. Rachel Maddow! Here you go:



Basic gist: Georgia started it. Georgia tried to gobble up two independent states. They expected us to back them up because Bush promised to. Bush promised Georgia back up because Georgia sent "their military" to Iraq. Russia is pissed at Georgia because Georgia wants to join NATO. Russia hates NATO. Russia took Georgia's attempt-to-gobble as a cue to kick the crap out of Georgia. Russia wants us to mind our own damn business but isn't opposed to a do-over of the cold war.

And that is where we stand.