Should there be another crisis in Georgia, expect the Russians to accuse the Georgians of shooting first again, as they lied about the August war.
But the next time, the Russians will have Georgian weapons, complete with serial numbers, as "evidence" that Georgia started the war.
If you think that the Russians just used their time inside Georgia to destroy Georgian arms depots, guess again. The Russians surely brought back a lot of Georgian weapons of varying types to make sure they can frame Georgia more completely the second time.
I've seen nothing to indicate this happened. But if I was the lying, psychopathic ruler of a nutso, demographically dying, vodka-addled country, that's what I'd do.
UPDATE: Remember, too, that Georgia did not cooperate by actually slaughtering South Ossetians, which Russia claimed and used to justify their invasion of Georgia. So the next time, Russians may not settle for unsubstantiated claims backed by nothing. With stores of Georgian weapons to scatter about, the Russians might do their own dirty work and blame the Georgians. Heck, they've done it before.
About Me
- Brian J. Dunn
- I live and write in Ann Arbor, Michigan. University of Michigan AB and MA from Eastern Michigan University. One term in the Michigan Army National Guard. Former American history instructor and retired nonpartisan research analyst. I write on Blogger and Substack. Various military and private journals have published my occasional articles on military subjects. See "My Published Works" on the TDR web version or under the mobile version drop-down menu for citations and links.
