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Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Set-Up That Worked

The Russians are looking to improve upon their military's performance in the 2008 Russo-Georgia War.

I wasn't terribly impressed. Georgia seems to have learned more lessons and is reorienting to defending their country rather than counter-insurgency, according to Strategypage.

Of more interest is this bit of obviousness that eludes much of the nuanced class around the Western world:

On the bright side, the Russian military demonstrated great resourcefulness and innovation before and during the invasion. This included the strategic planning, because the war was a set-up. Russia used only one infantry division for the invasion, and had held training exercises in July. The Russians pulled off a "strategic surprise" against the Georgians, and for this the planners could be proud.

The plan was primarily based on deceiving the Georgians into attacking first. Thus increased border violence by South Ossetian forces caused the Georgians to think they could retake the lost (in 1991) province. Less than a day after the Georgian forces entered South Ossetia, the Russian force of over 20,000 troops (including combat experienced Chechen counter-terror units and North Ossetian militia groups) invaded Georgia.

I don't understand why it isn't obvious to people that Russia was the aggressor in that war.