When Olympics kicked off with a bang in China, Russia blasted its way into Georgia. Both nations thus resorted to a show of strength, though their modi operandi were poles apart. China stunned its opponents with a breathtaking Olympics opening ceremony replete with a colourful myriad of pyrotechnics but Russia did so with a display of deadly firepower which left hundreds of people dead.

The Russian invasion of Georgia came as no surprise. No sooner had Kosovo declared independence, which the US and its allies recognised in record time, President Vladimir Putin warned that the Kosovan independence would serve as a template for future actions of the pro-Russian separatist regions of Georgia. In fact, the South Ossetian President Kokoity declared at that Abkhazia and S. Ossetia had 'more political and legal jurisdiction than Kosovo to declare independence'.

All the signs are that South Ossetia, ably assisted by Russia, is going to do a Kosovo sooner or later. After a few days of fierce fighting yesterday the Georgian forces began pulling out from South Ossetia, in spite of the moral support it received from the US, the EU etc. Russia sucking South Ossetia and Abkhazia in is only a matter of time. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's campaign to unify his country by bringing South Ossetia and Abkhazia under central control like Ajaria has manifestly gone awry.

Since the disintegration of the USSR, which led to the emergence of an assortment of independent states like Georgia, Russia has been working according to a well thought out strategy. It has granted citizenship to a vast majority of people in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and its ruble is commonly used there. Having thus prepared the ground for an intervention to 'protect Russian citizens', Russia is all out after 17 years to reclaim its rightful position in the world which has since remained unipolar.

The US may have flexed its Balkan muscles by supporting the Kosovan independence to the hilt but Russia has effectively countered the US plans for the region. The US and its allies, as we pointed out in February, have been on a campaign to turn the Balkan states into willing or unwilling satellites in a bid to isolate a reviving Russia.

The US and its partners in global domination must be disappointed over the UN reaction, or rather inaction. The UN has found itself unable even to word a statement on Georgia. Russia may not be red to the extent it used to be. But its ambitions are far from dead and it has made a spectacular comeback.

The frozen Cold War is showing sure signs of thawing with Russia reasserting itself and trying to rebuild its empire brick by brick. The US, already stuck neck deep in Iraq and Afghanistan, will have its woes compounded. The Russian expansionism must be a worrisome proposition to the US.

Through the invasion of South Ossetia, Russia has sought to take control of the energy route to Europe. President Saakashvili's reading of the Russian strategy is spot on, though the ruffling of Russia's feathers by deploying his troops in S. Ossetia––may be in the hope that the US and NATO would rush to his rescue––was a terrible military miscalculation on his part! He should have known better than to pit himself against a mighty country, hoping against hope. He finds himself in the same predicament as the late Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene, who antagonised India, mistakenly thinking that Uncle Sam would take him off the hook.

Kuwait was lucky, as it had oil and the US a desire to invade Iraq anyway. Taiwan and Tibet are also playing with fire, however justifiable they may think their causes are. China will make tofu of Taiwan before one could say Bush, should the latter, lured by the US, try to break away. Friends of Tibet went hell for leather to sabotage Olympics but the games are happening in Beijing on a grand scale today. Uighur separatists operating in Xinjiang Province have had a rude shock at the hand of the Chinese military for their bomb attacks in that province in the run up to the Olympics.

The US and the EU, true to form, stand exposed for their double standards. They backed the Kosovan independence and cited as reasons for their decision, inter alia, genocidal violence. Georgia is also accused of such crimes in S. Ossetia and Abkhazia but the US and the EU have chosen to remain silent on those accusations. The UN mandated monitoring mission in S. Ossetia, too, has cut a very pathetic figure. It has been reduced to a mere spectator. Russia also finds itself in a contradiction. It opposed Kosovo's independence and vowed to torpedo it in the UN Security Council, but today it is openly advocating S. Ossetia's and Abkhazia's right to secede. And the UN which roars and pounces on smaller member states like a lion at the drop of a hat becomes as meek as a lamb, when required to act against a powerful member. It cannot even draft a statement, let alone act! What a shame!