What happens now in Georgia was perfectly predictable. Since the moment in which Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed its independence from Serbia, encouraged by the United States and by the majority of the European Union members.

What happens now in Georgia was perfectly predictable. Since the moment in which Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed its independence from Serbia, encouraged by the United States and by the majority of the European Union members. One didn’t need great analytical skills to see the reaction of Russia coming. Vladimir Putin spoke directly. He threatened that Moscow will speculate the precedent. He even gave examples. South Osetia and Abkhazia were nominated first.

It was clear that Russia expected only a pretext to intervene in supporting the two separatist enclaves in the territory of Georgia. President Mikhail Saakaşvili offered it when he ordered, in the very first day of the Beijing Olympics, a great military attack against South Osetia. Kremlin could finally invoke the "humanitarian reasons" for a military intervention. The Russian troops crossed the border just to "protect" the civilian population from the unleashed "massacre" of the regime in Tbilisi. The Moscow rhetoric is a copy to the one used to justify the NATO war against Serbia.

As always in history, altruism has little to do with a military campaign. Clearly, Russia wants to pay the occidentals in the same way, to prove to them that the precedent of Kosovo can return against their interests. It is not only about the revenge for the fact that Kremlin’s decision towards the dismantling of Serbia has been ignored. "In international relations, rules cannot be different from one case to another”, President Medvedev pointed out for Financial Times. Of course, it is not the double standard that annoys the leaders from Moscow, but the fact that Russia