The Georgian Russian War -- Predictions On This Conflict Were Made Last Month, But No One Was Listening

Inferno: Military vehicles and a car flee as Russian rockets land a direct hit on a Georgian tank on the road to Gori

Last week I was reading a number of Russian news websites (something that I do every Monday). All of them were expressing concerns with what was happening in the Caucasus, and the lack of international attention on the matter. The stories were not prominent on the webpage, but they were on the first page and they were talking about skirmishes between South Ossetian police and regular Georgian Army units.

I was pondering on doing a post on the subject, pointing out the history of the conflict and Georgia's determination to now take control of these rebel regions. To get background information I checked two Georgian websites (Georgian Daily and Georgia Today) and found that they were aggressive in their demands that Georgia should reassert its authority on these provinces.

It was late, I was tired .... I decided to go to bed. With hindsight I now know that the Georgian media were aware that something was going to happen .... and the Russian media was clueless like the rest of us.

I have collected the following three stories that had accurately predicted what was going to happen. They were written in July, and are prophetic in their conclusions. They are from the Russian side, The Georgian side, and one from the Washington Post (American side). No one can now say that this war was a surprise to anyone.

A War The West Must Stop -- July 15, 2008, Washington Post

Are Georgia and Russia Heading for War? -- July 28, 2008, Georgia Daily (The Georgia Daily Website is down, this is a cache image of the page)

Steinmeier Promotes Plan for Abkhazia -- July 21, 2008, Moscow Times