South Ossetia

On the face of it, the conflict in Ukraine seems to have stabilized somewhat...

Georgia has sought to bolster its prospects for national survival by vigorously campaigning for NATO membership. But placating Putin has become more important than protecting Georgia.

Inhabiting the crossroads of western Asia and eastern Europe, Georgians have lived a complex and often painful history...

Stratfor Managing Editor Ben Sheen and Eurasia Analyst Eugene Chausovsky discuss the increasing tensions in Russia’s periphery since the start of the crisis in Ukraine.

Georgia’s response to the Ukraine crisis has been less strident than some of Russia’s other neighbours. In part this is because many Georgians view the 2008 Russo-Georgian war as the first expression of renewed Russian expansionism, which makes them wary of taking too provocative a position.

After days of heightening tensions and increasingly aggressive rhetoric, Russian president Vladimir Putin requested, and was promptly granted, authorisation to deploy Russian troops in Ukraine until the situation there had “normalised.”

Crimea: the struggle within Ukraine, between Ukraine and Russia, and between Russia and the West, raises the key question about Russia’s larger game plan.