Georgia on the Brink
Just when we thought that things couldn’t get any hotter between Russia, Georgia, and the frozen conflict of Abkhazia, further events this week have sent the region toward the brink of outright war. Earlier this week Georgian authorities arrested, then released, four Russian peace keepers near the city of Zugdidi whom they had accused of illegally transporting arms. Russia reacted sharply, and following a call between Mikheil Saakashvili and Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin issued a pointed statement warning against “provocations.”