Well, the Shepard, as I recall, was let go home in a couple of days.
After Georgia became independent, it soon attracted the attention of someone called George Soros, who helped a guy by the name Michael Saakashvili - to whom he was a mentor for many years - to become president. Georgia is a little federation in its own right. Soon, two small nations proclaimed independence - Abkhazia and Ossetia. The latter is divided into North and South Ossetia, divided by a range of mountains.
Since Georgia wanted to become a member of NATO, the Russians “recognized” and offered help to both of them. The easy one was North Ossetia, since they are separated from Georgia by mountains - and are “naturally” close to Russia.
The so called “invasion” of Georgia hardly involved Georgia proper. What happened is that Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia - which started screaming for Russia to help them. Well, they did - they drove in through a tunnel under the mountains (which, in all the confusion, someone forgot to block off) - kicked out the Georgians out of Ossetia and warned them to stay out. A few days later they packed up and went home.
Last I heard, recently, the Ossetians decided they would like to become part of the Russian Federation. Abkhazia wants to remain independent.
Much of the Georgian and Abkhazian coasts are gorgeous, btw. Imagine Florida with a milder climate - and the Caucasian mountains in the background.
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