In 2008, during the Olympic Games hosted by Beijing, a major event occurred in the world.
At that time, a fierce conflict broke out between Georgia and Russia, shocking the world.
What is unexpected is that this conflict was actually caused by Georgia.
I believe many people will wonder, how does little Georgia have the courage to challenge Russia?
To some extent, all this is caused by the Western countries led by the United States.
It is the repeated temptations and encouragements of the Western countries that make Georgia believe that the United States and itself "stand together" and why it has made such a reckless move.
Because of this, until the moment of defeat, the President of Georgia was convinced that the United States would not give up on itself and never forgot the promises that the United States had made to itself.
Of course, now that everyone knows the outcome, not only did the U.S. military not take any action in the end, but Georgia also had to pay a heavy price for its actions.
So, how did Georgia, which once belonged to the same Soviet family as Russia, turn against Russia under the deception of the United States?
What price did Georgia end up paying for the mistakes it had made?
All this has to start from the enmity and resentment between Russia and Georgia!
The origin of the Russo-Georgian contradiction
Today's Georgia and Russia were born on the ruins of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were as many as 15 republics that declared independence, and together these countries carved up the legacy of the former Soviet Union.
Since the brothers are separated, it is inevitable that there will be unsatisfactory places, such as the territorial ownership of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which has laid hidden dangers for the subsequent development of Relations between Russia and Georgia.
Due to the haste of separation, the urgent need for countries to deal with many affairs, and the phenomenon of chaos is widespread, no one cares about these details, and the related problems are not immediately fermented.
But when countries stabilized, previously neglected issues were revived.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia were initially divided among Georgia, but from the bottom of their hearts, they did not want to belong to Georgia, so they confronted the georgian central government everywhere.
Because both regions have a large number of ethnic Russians, there are complex ethnic contradictions involved, so Georgia has to turn to Russia to resolve the contradictions.
In 1992, after consultations between Russia and Georgia, Russia sent peacekeeping forces to stabilize the situation.
At that time, many former Soviet countries turned to Russia when they had internal problems.
Russia was happy to help these countries, so that the former Soviet republics, after parting ways, warmed up in the form of the "CIS" and maintained a loose alliance.
However, this brief harmony did not last long.
Georgia's propensity to separate the two regions has always been in the throat, always looking for an opportunity to eliminate Russian influence and solve the territorial problem in one fell swoop.
This is where the rift between Russia and Georgia arises.
However, the difference in strength between the two countries is too great.
Georgia has a population of 3.7 million and a land area of 69,700 square kilometers. In contrast, Russia has a population of 146 million and a land area of 17 million square kilometers.
Simple data says it all.
So, at first, Georgia did not dare to think of Russia as such.
However, the 1990s were a particularly dark period for Russia.
Russia, which seemed to be powerful, suffered a series of setbacks in diplomacy, economy, and internal affairs.
Diplomatically, Russia thought that if it fell to the West, it would be welcomed by the West, but it did not expect that the Western countries had always been extremely wary of Russia, and did not give up the suppression of Russia because of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Economically, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economic layout of the original chess game in the country was destroyed, and some important industries were scattered in other countries and could not cooperate, so Russia's development encountered difficulties, and the economic situation plummeted.
In internal affairs, Russia has lost the direction of development, does not know where the country should go, and the hearts and minds of the whole country are floating.
Under these circumstances, some republics in the Russian Federation have also demanded "independence".
The most famous of these is the Chechen Republic.
In order to quell the Chechen armed forces, Russia did not hesitate to send a large army to attack, but the performance of the Russian army was surprising.
The Russian army, which had absolute superiority, not only failed to eliminate the Chechen armed forces as quickly as everyone expected, but suffered a lot in the war.
The Chechen war has demoralized the Russian army, and it has also made neighboring countries who were originally afraid of Russia suddenly feel contemptuous.
This is also an important reason why Georgia dared to attack Russia later, after all, Georgia's strength seems to be much stronger than Chechnya, and since Chechen armed forces can compete with the Russian army, then Georgia has no reason to instigate.
Georgia is on an anti-Russian and pro-American path
If it is only the contradiction between Russia and Georgia, then the problem will not be too serious, but the intervention of Western countries has made everything start to get out of control.
When Georgia and Russia are at odds, it is precisely when the Western countries have just won the Cold War and are full of spirit.
Due to the collapse of its biggest rival, the Soviet Union, a boulder that had weighed on the hearts of Western countries for more than half a century finally disappeared.
Western countries proudly declare that the Western system is the ultimate form of the human social system, the end point of history, the development process of all human society, and the process of how it eventually evolved into Western society.
This statement has become unworthy today, but at that time it caused strong repercussions all over the world and had a strong ideological impact on many countries.
Small countries like Georgia, which have always felt that it is not easy to survive, have listened to this statement and can't wait to throw themselves into the arms of the West.
Western countries also want to take this opportunity to expand NATO to the east, compress Russia's strategic space as much as possible, and prevent Russia from reviving and threatening itself again.
Co-opting Russia's neighboring countries and deepening their contradictions with Russia has become the consensus of the West, and Georgia has thus entered the "eyes of the law" of the West.
But in the eyes of the West, Georgia is a country of great value, with this country as a fulcrum, the West can enter the hinterland of Russia to the north, and to the south can affect the countries of the Middle East.
Thus, in a very short period of time, Georgia's relations with Western countries became warm.
Seeing that they were so "favored", Georgian nationals also became enthusiastic about Western countries.
In the process, the influence of Western countries has gradually penetrated into all aspects of Georgian society and economy.
Pro-AMERICAN and anti-Russian forces in Georgia are growing day by day, and calls for a total turn to the West are growing louder.
Finally, in 2003, a bloodless revolution, the "Rose Revolution," blossomed in the lands of the western South Caucasus.
Former Georgian President Shevardnadze stepped down under the siege of the masses, while opposition leader Saakashvili became the victor.
Of course, this "revolution" is far from being as simple as it seems, it is a "color revolution" led by the West, and such things happened in many countries in the world during the same period.
However, the Georgians at that time were far from realizing this, nor did they know what fate they would face.
• The Western countries have gradually induced and detonated the Russian-Georgian conflict
To understand how Georgia has embarked on the road of no return step by step, it is necessary to mention a key figure, that is, Georgian President Saakashvili, who came to power in the "Rose Revolution", and it was he who led Georgia to war with Russia.
After taking office, Saakashvi vigorously advocated the so-called "democratic freedom" values of the West, and in his speech he lashed out at Georgia's "shortcomings", advocated the "superiority" of the Western system, and exaggerated russia's "threat".
Saakashvili, like Western politicians, was extremely adept at using speeches to demagogue people, and Georgians were momentarily seduced by it and regarded him as the savior of the country.
Diplomatically, Georgia began to turn across the board to the West. In fact, the overthrown former Georgian president Shevardnadze has pursued a policy of being close to the West and alienating Russia.
But Saakashvili believes that Shevardnadze has not done enough to bring prosperity and stability to Georgia, so Georgia must go further and get closer to the West.
In fact, Saakashvili's statement is divorced from reality, because Georgia's economic ties with Russia are very close, and there are nearly one million Georgians working in Russia alone.
In internal affairs, Saakashvili strongly advocated strengthening the authority of the central government and curbing the momentum of division. Needless to say, this is again directed at Russia, as both so-called "divided regions" of Georgia are under Russian influence.
These two propositions seem to be a voice for the interests of Georgians, but they are also invisibly in line with the plans of Western countries to promote Georgia's anti-Russian efforts.
Seeing that Saakashvili was so "on the road", the United States and Europe wasted no time in trumpeting Saakashvili and providing a series of assistance to Georgia.
At that time, Georgia's biggest concern was economic and security problems after the confrontation with Russia.
To reassure Georgia, the United States provides georgia with economic aid every year to reduce its economic dependence on Russia.
In 2005, with the support of the United States, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was finally completed.
This oil pipeline, which bypasses Russia and Iran, gives Georgia the confidence to say "no" to Russia in energy extraction.
Militarily, the United States has conducted a series of military training, weapons exports, and military cooperation with Georgia.
U.S. President George W. Bush also put a lot of energy into Georgia, and at the 2005 U.S.-European summit, George W. Bush expressed support for Georgia's accession to NATO.
Later, at the 2006 meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states, NATO approved a "deep dialogue" to explore how to eventually get Georgia to join NATO, despite Russia's strong opposition.
This series of combination punches suddenly made Georgia so cool that he could not find the north, convinced that he was already a member of the Western family.
Unfortunately, things are far from being so simple, and NATO has also laid the groundwork for its instability while inducing Georgia to "take the bait".
On the one hand, NATO claims to admit Georgia; on the other hand, IT is reluctant to specify the timing of Georgia's accession to NATO on the pretext that the two regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in its territory are "destabilizing factors" for Georgia.
Seeing the coveted NATO membership is in front of us, but stuck in the last hurdle can not move. It can be said that the past is ready, only the east wind is owed.
In order to "show loyalty" to NATO, but also to solve the territorial hidden dangers that have plagued him for a long time, Georgian President Saakashvili finally decided to send armed forces to solve the domestic territorial problem once and for all.
The Georgian army chose the date of the operation on August 8, 2008, the opening day of the Beijing Olympic Games.
While the people of the whole world were watching the Beijing Olympics, Georgia took a surprise action against South Ossetia.
In the early morning of August 8, more than 7,000 Georgian troops, supported by air-ground integrated firepower, raided Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.
By 10 a.m., the Georgians had surrounded Tskhinvali and exchanged fire with the armed forces of South Ossetia.
At 14:00 p.m., the Georgian army basically took control of important areas of South Ossetia.
It took only 10 hours for the Georgian army to take control of all of South Ossetia. After that, overwhelmed by victory, the Georgian army attacked the Russian peacekeeping force in South Ossetia in an attempt to completely eradicate Russian influence.
Georgia's attacks on Russian troops have inevitably led to an inevitable further escalation of the Russian-Georgian conflict.
The Russian army intervened and swept through the Georgian army
Because the Georgian army has been carefully prepared in advance, and there are also European and American countries in the international support, Georgia believes that Russia, intimidated by the prestige of European and American countries, will accept the change of the status quo in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The Georgian authorities believe that even if the Russian military reacts, it will only be symbolic and will not move.
But the Georgian authorities' thinking is simply naïve, but this can not blame Georgia, after all, the entire Western countries at that time also had a very low evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, so the United States and Europe would be deeply involved in the Russian-Georgian conflict and make various commitments to Georgia.
Because the Russian military has behaved too badly in the past in the Chechen war, Georgia, the United States and Western Europe and other countries think that they will see a good drama about Russia again.
But they miscalculated on one key issue, and that was to look down too much on Putin, the Russian prime minister who had relied on his tenacious perseverance to solve the Chechen problem and rekindle the hearts and minds of the whole Of Russia.
Europe, the United States and Georgia have to pay a very heavy price for their own miscalculation.
The Russian military reacted quickly when it learned of Georgia's action. The Russian authorities mobilized the troops of the North Caucasus Military District and launched a military operation against the Georgian army in South Ossetia.
The vanguard of the Russian 58th Army, guided by tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles, crossed the border between Russia and South Ossetia and advanced rapidly.
At 17:00 on August 8, the vanguard of the Russian army quickly arrived in Tskhinvali. In the early hours of the next day, the Russians seized the outlying strongholds of Tskhinvali and quickly surrounded the Georgian army.
Subsequently, the follow-up reinforcements of the Russian army also arrived in a steady stream, and the situation completely fell to the Russian army.
At the same time, the Russians did not confine themselves to South Ossetia, and they also operated in Abkhazia.
After the Russian motor division and airborne division entered the Abkhazia region, the Russian Black Sea Fleet blockaded the Abkhaz coast.
On the evening of the 10th, the Russian army continued to advance into the deep territory of Georgia, and the Independent Regiment of the Russian Marine Corps landed in Ochamchira, Georgia.
At this point, the Georgian army had completely collapsed, and even the rear had been lost. The Russian army, which had overall superiority, continued to march.
In order to expand the victory, starting in the early morning of August 11, the Russian army cleared the remnants of the Georgian army while bombing important military targets, transportation hubs and ports in Georgia. The Russian ground troops advanced towards georgian territory separately, and the georgian army had no ability to resist.
At this time, the weak Georgian army had long been forced to demand a ceasefire.
At 16:00 on August 12, then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the end of the Russian army.
After the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian conflict, it lasted only five days before it ended.
A day later, under the mediation of French President Sarkozy, a peace agreement was reached between Russia and Georgia.
According to the terms of the agreement, the authority of the Russian military to deploy peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be recognized by Georgia. The Georgian side has effectively lost control of both areas.
It can be said that Georgia can not steal chickens, but instead erodes the rice.
· The Lamentations of Georgia
In this conflict, the Georgian army killed 146 people, wounded more than 1,400 people, killed more than 2,000 civilians, and tens of thousands of people became refugees.
For a small country, this is unbearable pain.
Georgian President Saakashvili, who was directly responsible for the conflict, eventually had to step down and go into exile.
So, what are the Western countries that have been convinced to "protect" Georgia doing in the process?
Before the war, the Western media fired enough firepower to fiercely criticize Russia, NATO troops also conducted joint exercises with georgian troops, and American weapons continued to enter Georgia.
At the beginning of the war, US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took turns to openly side with Georgia and strongly demonstrated that this is a geopolitical dispute between the United States and Russia, and the United States will spare no effort to fight Russia to the end.
in Rice
It is this illusion that convinces Georgian President Saakashvili that the United States will not abandon itself until the Georgian army completely collapses, and Saakashvili is still looking forward to it: Why hasn't the US military come to the rescue.
Of course, the U.S. military did not send a single soldier in the end.
Afterwards, NATO said that it was "seriously concerned about the development" and "called on the two sides to resolve the contradiction through dialogue", and France and Germany only demanded an immediate truce between the two sides.
As for the other NATO countries, they are more just watching, without any substantive action.
Georgia thinks it is the "darling" that the United States and NATO will never give up, but in fact it is just cheap cannon fodder.
Conclusion
The lessons left by Georgia cannot be described as profound, but looking around the world, countries like Georgia that have been fooled by the United States and have gone astray continue to occur.
Like today's Ukraine, Ukraine is also superstitious that the United States and NATO will help themselves, impatient to defect to the West, the result is that the country fell into division and turmoil.
The tragic experience of Georgia is still vividly remembered, but Ukraine has repeated the same mistakes, how can all this not make people sigh with emotion!