Russia is Speaking Victorian and Thinking Pagan

What do I mean by that?

Speaking Victorian: “Our actions are limited in time, territory and mission,” said Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin.

Thinking Pagan: Russia has rejected a Georgian-proposed ceasefire, is attaching Georgian targets outside outside South Ossetia, blockading the Georgian coast, and rejecting international mediation. Analaysts say that Moscow is pushing for the strongest position to carry out negotiations.

As the Russian army pushed its way into South Ossetia, Georgia’s weary troops fled south with whatever they could carry. As Russia pushes out of southern Ossetia into Georgia proper, the feeling by many, especially the Georgia military, is that they have been betrayed.

“Where were our friends?” Troops pushing south seemed to expect that the United States was coming to their aid, and NATO help was on its way. Georgia, after all, has one of the highest numbers of soldiers in Iraq per capita (recalled yesterday), the capital has a George W. Bush Street, and since the Rose Revolution, the leaders of the respective countries have gushed over each other. But that the West is pushing for diplomacy as a solution basically means that Georgia has to eat whatever Russian-backed separatism exists in their territory.

For the Ossetians, trapped between Russia and Georgia, Russian help is welcome, and Georgian “aggression” in their territory is labeled as the responsibility of the United States. Of course, its lack of involvement at this stage is only being noticed by Georgia, not the Ossetians.

As for reports on the ground, you’ve got to wonder what you can trust (ironically, both of the articles below have the same general text):

*- In South Ossetia capital, a relative calm – LA Times

*- Chaos reigns in Georgian rebel city after battle – Reuters