"Peace" in Georgia?

Well, a day after a cease-fire and draft peace deal was agreed to, Russian troops have entered and are patrolling Gori; Georgian villages have been burned and looted by South Ossetian militia and brave Russian peacekeepers; and the Russians appear to be heading towards Tbilisi while Russian commanders strenuously deny they are doing so. The move towards Tbilisi may or may not be real, but if Georgia has learned the past few days how much Western support is worth, it now learns exactly how much deals with Russia are worth.

These are harsh lessons.

I dislike Saakashvili; I thought that if the military attack on South Ossetia was vitally necessary from the Georgian perspective, the shelling and levelling of Tskhinvali was unbelievably stupid. But recent events only underscore how important it was for Georgia to take control over its secessionist territories. Because the Russians have no interest in a peaceful and independent Georgia, and instead are imposing what is at best a fractured, dismembered existence under Russian military control.

I hope that, whatever happens over the following weeks or months or years, the Georgians find a way to determine their own fate against the Russians and whoever stands against them.