Russia Ends Its Invasion..After Swallowing One Fifth Of Georgia

The Russians have stopped their invasion of Georgia after a meeting with French President Sarkozy and announced their conditions for peace, and they're fairly brutal.

The Russians will absorb one fifth of Georgia, annexing Abkhazia and South Osettia. While the Russians had troops stationed there before, they never had total control over these territories, which were internationally recognized as part of Georgia. In addition, they want a 'buffer zone' in which Georgian security forces would be forbidden to enter, and a treaty guaranteeing that Georgia will never use force to recapture them. What that amounts to is 'legalization' to Moscow's land grab.

And the Russians left the door open to future attacks, at a time of their choosing.

Russia's president Dmitri Medvedev said, "I've decided to finish the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace. The safety of our peacekeeping forces and civilian population has been restored. The aggressor has been punished, having sustained considerable losses. Its armed forces have been disorganised.

But Medvedev ordered his defence minister, Anatoliy Serdukov, to respond to any Georgian attempt to fight back. "Should centres of resistance or other aggressive attempts arise, you must take the decision to destroy them."

Medvedev also reiterated his call for Georgia's president Saakashvili to be removed, referring to him as a 'lunatic' and saying that it was now "up to Georgia" to accept Russia's terms.

For his part Saakashvili made a speech at a defiant rally attended by tens of thousands of people in Tbilisi yesterday. He accused Russia of trying to conquer Georgia and vowed to uphold the nation's independence. "Georgia will never surrender," he said.

Now that the Russians have the enclaves they wanted all along and and have sent the message they wanted to the former members of their empire, look for further attempts on Georgia's independence by Russia at the first pretext for renewed hostility