A Respectable Russia

In Ukraine 60% population - Russians, (not 17%)
so many dont want NATO

In Ukraine 60% population - Russians :) you have old data (not 17%)
so many ppl dont want NATO

The West has a major responsibility for the tragedy in South-Ossetia.
Nobody misses the criminal communist soviet regime that vanished so rapidly.
The Union fell apart with no time to give a thought to the fact that the boundaries of the republics where defined in a world quite different from today???s post-soviet reality.
Suddenly many Russians woke up as neglected minorities in new countries.
The Baltic States dream of the time before the Second World War and don???t grant their Russian-speaking minorities citizenship. The Crimea was given to Ukraine by stroke of the pen by Chrusjtjov. Even the other parts of South Russia, once conquered by Potemkin during the reign of Catherine the Great, became part of Ukraine.
Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, given to Georgia by Stalin, is kept there by force.
The big losers are the Russians and we accept because of old-time fear of Russians or by some sort of contamination of thought, where we place the blame for crimes of Stalin and the communist regime on the Russians.
We used Russia???s weak period and paved the ground for a rebound.
We are appalled when Putin sees the collapse of the Soviet Union as a disaster, but it is possible to understand that something got lost in the process. That union was not defined by ethnicity or religion and it had a working language.
We don???t want to understand the Russians feel misunderstood and bullied and we are surprised when the West???s inability to understand breeds nationalism and isolationism.
We don???t want to understand that Russia feels threatened when the United States wants to put missiles in the Czech Republic and inflates Saakasjvili so that he feels strong enough to invade South-Ossetia.
What will we say when the communist regime in China falls and the country splits into its ethnic parts?
Are we more prone to let the peoples decide by their own then, than when Abkhazia and South-Ossetia wants to seek its one future?
Anders Tydén, Lidingö, Sweden

The West has a major responsibility for the tragedy in South-Ossetia.
Nobody misses the criminal communist soviet regime that vanished so rapidly.
The Union fell apart with no time to give a thought to the fact that the boundaries of the republics where defined in a world quite different from today???s post-soviet reality.
Suddenly many Russians woke up as neglected minorities in new countries.
The Baltic States dream of the time before the Second World War and don???t grant their Russian-speaking minorities citizenship. The Crimea was given to Ukraine by stroke of the pen by Chrusjtjov. Even the other parts of South Russia, once conquered by Potemkin during the reign of Catherine the Great, became part of Ukraine.
Abkhazia and South-Ossetia, given to Georgia by Stalin, is kept there by force.
The big losers are the Russians and we accept because of old-time fear of Russians or by some sort of contamination of thought, where we place the blame for crimes of Stalin and the communist regime on the Russians.
We used Russia???s weak period and paved the ground for a rebound.
We are appalled when Putin sees the collapse of the Soviet Union as a disaster, but it is possible to understand that something got lost in the process. That union was not defined by ethnicity or religion and it had a working language.
We don???t want to understand the Russians feel misunderstood and bullied and we are surprised when the West???s inability to understand breeds nationalism and isolationism.
We don???t want to understand that Russia feels threatened when the United States wants to put missiles in the Czech Republic and inflates Saakasjvili so that he feels strong enough to invade South-Ossetia.
What will we say when the communist regime in China falls and the country splits into its ethnic parts?
Are we more prone to let the peoples decide by their own then, than when Abkhazia and South-Ossetia wants to seek its one future?
Anders Tydén, Lidingö, Sweden

Russian sources say Georgia concentrates military forces on the bound with S.Ossetia.

Why are the only alternatives either joining the West or going "over to the dark, anarchic world of rogue states"? It appears that Russia will do neither, and will command respect for its own nationally supported choice. This kind of analysis just underscores the West's complete lack of understanding of Russia. What's more, the West doesn't want to understand Russia - it would rather affix a label.

Don't let politicians, journalists, and "analysts" heat the situation. These people get the more money the more heated the situation. Let's do something for peace between the USA, Russia, and Georgia. And don't call me mad: let's dream about friendship between the USA, Russia, and Georgia.

It might seem the first mistake, was allowing Vladimir Putin to not be swept out. In the media (at least what we see) he is the de facto president of Russia.

It does appear mistakes were made on both sides in Russia and Georgia. But it is somewhat astounding to see the rhetoric from Russia turn, so quickly, back to the cold war era.

Russia has had a lot of twists and turns over the years. It appears that Russia is headed for another one, fueled by an economic expansion the country had to have. The Russians are a wonderful people, now propelled again by a change in leadership back to the old ways. Their comments towards Poland recently are very disturbing. Almost the only good thing is the Russian stock market reaction toward the conflict. Perhaps Russian and foreign investors (and Russian newfound wealth) will moderate Russian actions in the future.

Ms. Nemtsova got it right.