What’s behind the dispute between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia?

Look behind all the inflamed propaganda about atrocities on both sides.  See through all of the clever rhetoric from the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev or his master, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“Geography is destiny,” Napoleon reportedly declared, and in this case, he may be right.

Extending east from the curve of the Black Sea, Georgia is dominated by the rugged Caucasus Mountains stretching across the northern third of the country. Europe’s highest point, Mt. Elbrus (18,841  feet), straddles the northern border with Russia.

More than half of the Georgian economy is agricultural, reports the CIA Fact Book, because “the coastal climate and soils allow for important tea and citrus growth.”

Russia did not invade Georgia for its crops, however.

Russia’s immediate aim is to capture the oil pipeline that runs across Georgia, and that’s just the first steps toward wider regional and global ambitions.

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