The independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two Russian-controlled breakaway regions of Georgia, have demonstrated clearly the dilemna of the West, i.e. the European Union and America. Think about the precedents of Tibet and Kosovo.
On the one hand, Europe and America are both stoking the cause of the Tibetan separatists, burnishing the Dalai Lama from Dharsamsala with the "I" word, while mouthing the "A" word......... now, in Georgia, with South Ossetia and Abkhazia similarly pushing for and declaring their own "I" word, neither Nicholas Sarkozy (France), Gordon Brown (Great Britain), Angela Merkel (Germany), and Dubya Bush (U.S.) can now legitimately clamor against South Ossetia and Abkhazia from seceding from Georgia. You can't stoke Tibet and muzzle South Ossetia and Abkhazia at the same time, West !
Also, think Kosovo.... when Western countries recognized the independence of Kosovo, where NATO helped an ethnic Albanian population wrest independence from Serbia.
This time, the tide has turned on the other direction. And the West lost any moral, geopolitical, and legitimate standing against South Ossetia and Abkhazia after stocking independence on behalf of Tibet and Kosovo.
It would be inconsistent and hypocritical. Read on about the geopolitical maneuvers in the Caucasus Region:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0043d384-7362-11dd-8a66-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
And here's more background and history as to why Georgia, the "spear carrier" of Western Europe and Nato, may be on the wrong side of history:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121974624440772443.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
Further, interestingly, here's American conservative commentator Pat Buchanan and his take on the American folly in the Caucasus and its misread of the geostrategic politics:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/pat-buchanan.html?columnsName=pbu
