georgia formally declares war against russia over ossetia

it appears that the former soviet republic has finally made a formal declaration of war against russia in response to their aerial assault [AFP news item via Google].  it’s been a while since i’ve heard about a formal declaration of war.  we’ve had so many undeclared wars all over the world for the past, i don’t know, sixty or seventy years…how many of them came with an actual declaration, legally voted in by some official parliamentary procedure, rather than engaged in covertly in some way as a “police action” or entered into by fiat?  i think i could count them on one hand.  yet here i see the actual words “declares war”…it’s funny, it seems kind of quaint, even anachronistic.

it’s good, i suppose, to be continually reminded that we’re not the only asshole aggressor nation throwing its weight around.  we can chastise china for all of its internal problems, but they haven’t bombed anybody recently.

a quick and dirty google search on ‘the strategic value of south ossetia’ got me to doug muir’s ‘fistful of euros’ blog, and an equally quick and dirty breakdown on the local politics.  it appears that this conflict has its roots in the fall of the wall, another one of those glorious historical events that has had so much clear benefit for everyone involved.

i guess i’m going to be doing some reading about this today when i should be cleaning the house.  your typical american is so woefully ignorant about geopolitics across the big water that it’s really pretty fucking embarrassing.  i think it’s just as important for all you people trying to live right who switch to green lightbulbs and recycle everything, to spend a saturday morning here and there reading the news about what’s going on in the rest of the world.  even if it does give you a big fat headache.