Russia appears determined to crush Georgia, dislodge President

Russia appears to be on a larger mission than what the USA and the NATO may like to think It has made its intensions very clear to the world as it expanded its attacks on Georgia on Sunday. It moved tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advanced toward the city of Gori in central Georgia. It is first direct assault on a Georgian city with ground forces during three days of heavy fighting.
The retreating Georgian soldiers were so tired they could not keep from stumbling. Their arms were loaded with rucksacks and ammunition boxes. The dark circles they had under their eyes told how they have been spending sleepless nights. Still, officers ran up and down the line, shouting for them to go faster.

Feeling betrayed
Weary residents heading south said they were beginning to feel betrayed by the United States, an ally of Georgia, as its diplomacy had fallen short of expectations.
All along the road there was grief. One soldier, his face a mask of exhaustion, cradled a Kalashnikov. “We killed as many of them as we could,” he said. “But where are our friends?”
It was the question of the day. As Russian forces massed Sunday on two fronts, Georgians were heading south with whatever they could carry. When they met Western journalists, they all said the same thing: Where is the United States? When is NATO coming?
Since the conflict began, Western leaders have worked frantically to broker a cease-fire. But their diplomacy fell far short of what the Georgians expected.
Even in the hinterlands, at kebab stands and in farming villages, people fleeing South Ossetia saw themselves as trapped between great powers. Ossetian refugees heading north to Russia gushed their gratitude to Dmitri A. Medvedev and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian leaders. Georgians around Gori spoke of America plaintively, uncertainly. They were beginning to feel betrayed.

Trapped between giants
Meanwhile, the influx of Ossetians into southern Russia continued on Sunday. The police escorted convoys of minibuses up the Zaramakh highway and through the mountain tunnel that is the only route into Russia. The Russian authorities estimated that 34,000 refugees had crossed the border, and 3,000 more evacuations were planned for Monday.
The maneuver of the Russians seemed to suggest that its aims in the conflict have gone beyond securing the pro-Russian enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is now clear Russians are working towards weakening the armed forces of Georgia, a former Soviet republic and an ally of the United States. It may also be working towards dislodging the pro-West Georgian President.
As the USA does not appear to doing much the Georgians have started feeling trapped between the two powers. Georgia’s leanings towards the USA and the West had always irritated the Kremlin. Ironically, the same West, and the USA don't appear to of much use. The Georgians are feeling trapped between the powers.
The fresh Russia’s moves, that came even after Georgia offered a cease-fire and said it had pulled its troops out of South Ossetia, have caused widespread international alarm and anger. It set the stage for an intense diplomatic conflict with the United States.

It’s not like the Afghan invasion
President Bush has promoted Georgia as a bastion of democracy, helped strengthen its military and urged that NATO provide the country a membership. Georgia serves as a major conduit for oil flowing from Russia and Central Asia to the West.
Russia, emboldened by windfall profits from oil exports, is showing a resolve to stop NATO forces coming so close to its borders.
It’s notable that when Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Soviet forces were massed before the attack. This time the nation had not appeared poised for an action at this scale. As late as on Wednesday, Russian diplomats had been pressing for negotiations between Georgia and South Ossetia.
The Georgian resolve to reign in the breakaway region of South Ossetia started the conflict. Suddenly it flared and then escalated into a full-scale war.