On 8 August 2008, while the world's attention was focused on the Beijing Olympics, Georgia was faced with the dilemma of losing de facto control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as a severely damaged domestic military-industrial base and a greatly weakened war potential.
The Russo-Georgian War: A Skirmish During the Olympics In this short and quick war, why did the two former brothers of Russia and Georgia meet each other?
And why did tiny Georgia dare to challenge Russia? What is the reason behind all this? What is ironic is that in this war in 2008, after Georgia was defeated, it was looking forward to the arrival of the US military, hoping to be rescued.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are autonomous republics and autonomous oblasts within Georgia, the predominantly inhabitants of both regions are Russians, and both share a border with Russia.
They have long maintained close relations with Russia.
Georgia's tense relations with Abkhazia, South Ossetia began after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the two regions declared independence and confronted Georgia. In the nineties, Georgia was constantly fighting with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In the early years of independence, Georgia could not control the situation in these two regions and could only turn to Russia for help. In 1992, the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the region led to an agreement between South Ossetia and Georgia, and the situation was initially brought under control.
In return, Georgia agreed to join the CIS, allowing Russia to build military bases in Georgia, and the two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements.
Georgia's relations with Russia have always been very tense, especially in the face of Russia's long-term meddling in its internal affairs.
To solve this problem, Georgia began to actively seek new military partners. Against this background, the United States has provided Georgia with a large amount of military assistance in a timely manner, which has deepened the cooperation between the two countries in the military field.
However, in the early years of Georgia's independence, its dependence on Russia was high, almost all of its energy dependence on Russia**, and the export market for industrial and agricultural products was mainly dependent on Russia.
Georgia's relationship with Russia has declined significantly after establishing ties with the United States, while the United States has continued to provide economic assistance to Georgia, providing nearly $100 million in gratuitous aid in 2001 alone.
Since Shevardnadze's visit to Russia in 1996, the number of high-level visits between the two countries has decreased significantly, and the exchange of visits with the United States has become very frequent. Georgia has shown a very positive attitude of cooperation during the US military's attack on the Afghan Taliban, opened its airspace, and promised to provide the United States with two military airfields.
The growing military cooperation between the United States and Georgia has aroused vigilance and resentment in Russia, since US intervention could seriously threaten Russia's strategic interests.
In March 2008, NATO decided to suspend Georgia's application for membership in Abkhazia and South Ossetia due to the instability of the situation in Georgia.
Georgia's self-confidence lies in close cooperation with the United States. After Saakashvili came to power, the United States and Georgia jointly developed a foreign military funding program and a border security program, provided up to $64 million in training funds for the Georgian army, and sent military experts to Georgia for special forces training.
In addition, the United States has provided Georgia with 10 multi-purpose S-70A*** and expects to provide another 15 in the future. In return, Georgia adopted a series of friendly policies towards the United States.
With the assistance of all parties, Georgia's army has been greatly strengthened. Secretary of State Rice's public declaration that the United States would defend Georgia greatly boosted Saakashvili's confidence and emboldened him to wage war against Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
At the same time, Israel has also provided $500 million in support, and other NATO countries have also provided a large number of equipment, including armed self-propelled artillery, main battle tanks and anti-aircraft missile systems.
In early August 2008, Georgia planned to use Putin's participation in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics to quickly occupy Abkhazia and South Ossetia as a means of halting independence movements in those regions.
However, on 1 August, clashes broke out between the Georgian army and the South Ossetian army in the border area. Subsequently, the Georgian army bombed Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on the 3rd, causing a large number of civilians** and causing a large number of refugees to begin to migrate in the direction of Russia.
In the face of the Georgian offensive, Russian troops began to build up in the border area of South Ossetia. On 6 August, more than 500 Georgian armored troops, supported by 20 tanks, broke into South Ossetia and launched an attack on the capital of South Ossetia.
At that time, the Russian garrison in the capital of South Ossetia had less than two infantry companies, and the difference in strength between the two sides was huge. As a result, the Georgian army soon took control of two-thirds of the territory of South Ossetia.
Fighting nations have always been difficult to mess with, and the Russian army showed excellent combat capabilities in the forced peace campaign in Tskhinvali. Lieutenant General Khrulev commanded two motorized infantry regiments, which crossed the Russian-southern border into South Ossetia and advanced rapidly along the roads on both sides of the river valley.
At the same time, the Russian Air Force dispatched a number of bombers and attack planes to carry out fierce air strikes on the main positions and airfields of the Georgian army, and other key targets.
What is even more surprising is that the Russian airborne troops successfully carried out the airborne landing in Tskhinvali, thus cutting off the logistics supply line of the Georgian army and laying a solid foundation for the victory of the Russian army.
In the early hours of August 9, Russian forces launched an attack on Georgia and took full control of the Tskhinvali region in just over a dozen hours. On August 12, Dmitry Medvedev announced that the goal of the "forced peace campaign" had been achieved and issued an order to the combat units to stop military operations, and the Russian-Georgian war, which lasted for five days, ended with Russia's final victory.
Compared with the Russian armed forces, the Georgian army is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, equipment and naval and air support. Georgian active duty officers and soldiers are only 210,000 people, including 1 in the Army70,000 people, and the navy is even less than a thousand.
For Russia, the Russian-Georgian War is equivalent to a real military exercise on the scale of an army division of a modern brigade, because the disparity between the strength of the two is huge.
In this war, although Georgian Saakashvili naively thought that the United States would come forward, the result was that the United States did not send a single soldier to help.
Georgia paid a heavy price of 2,000 dead and 4,000 wounded, while the Russian army suffered only 13 killed. The war made Georgia understand that the United States would not be easily drawn into the war for their sake, and that they would have to bear the consequences of the war themselves.
The U.S. understands its interests and will carefully consider any trade that could lead to losses. Thus, US intervention in Georgia in the Caucasus is not accidental, but stems from their inevitable conflict of interests with Russia.
As an important passage connecting Iran and Turkey, Georgia is close to the strategically important Black Sea and borders Chechnya, with frequent internal religious extremist forces, terrorism and nationalist activities, and terrorist forces are closely linked with Chechen illegal armed forces, posing a threat to Russia.
Therefore, the US intervention in Georgia will not only allow its influence to penetrate directly into the southern gate of Russia, but also further contain the rise of Russia.
Georgia is located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, a region rich in oil and gas resources. The United States regards the Caspian Sea region as the most important potential region for energy security, and uses Transcaucasia as a transportation corridor from the Caspian Sea to the West.
American political scientist Ariel Cohen pointed out that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus and Central Asia were no longer Russia's sphere of influence, and the four-hundred-year southward expansion had come to an end.
In post-communist Russia, neither society nor the army had any intention of restoring the empire through the open use of military force.
For the first time in history, the United States has entered the interior of Eurasia, giving it greater freedom to tap into its rich economic resources. Georgia naively believes that taking control of South Ossetia will allow it to join NATO and expects the support of the United States and NATO in the event of a conflict with Russia.
However, in reality, Georgia was simply used by the United States. For the United States, it does not matter whether Georgia joins NATO or not, it is important to break off relations with Russia and worsen the situation in Transcaucasia.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Georgian war, NATO only expressed serious concern and called for the cessation of the armed conflict, without taking any substantive action; And other countries are only calling for a truce, or even just standing by and watching.
The attitude of the United States and NATO shows that they hope to achieve their goals through the tension between Georgia and Russia.
Despite the heavy price that Georgia has already paid, to this day it has not been able to join NATO, and relations with Russia are difficult to return to their pre-war status.
Russia's energy flows to Georgia are incessant, putting more economic pressure on Georgia. Blind faith in the tactics of the United States cost Georgia a lot of money.
Originally, Russia and Georgia could defend themselves against foreign enemies, but now they are enemies in the same room. I don't know if the Georgians have realized that it is impossible for the United States to really work for Georgia, the United States just wants Georgia to become a tool against Russia.
The 2008 war is the best proof that Georgia has been used by the United States, isn't it enough?