Georgia's options

For a long time, many Georgians, including a friend of mine who is now dead, have suggested at every opportunity that Georgia is being run by some globalised international group of lawyers and financiers. I always argued with them, because I thought that I saw in their distaste a sort of barely disguised anti-semitism, or at least the use of an old conspiracy theory for their own purposes.

Now, others are arguing that the Georgian government is a puppet of the USA, that it pushed Russia too far over Ossetia out of contempt, and that it thought that it would be backed by the west if it moved to try and crush its South Ossetia problem. In essence, this argument creates the basis for blaming the Georgian government for what is now happening in that country as a consequence of the Russian invasion.

There is a way for Georgian leaders to show that they are really concerned for their country and that they are not acting at the behest of some international group.

Firstly, shut down the oil pipeline that runs from Sangachal to Supsa and Ceyan, even if it has just restarted.
Secondly, refer again and again to Article V of the NATO treaty and demand support, even if Georgia is not yet in NATO .
Thirdly, issue a draft, and promise a status referendum in South Ossetia as soon as foreign troops leave its soil. This could be accompanied with an invitation to UN observers to base themselves there.

These are, after all, the steps that innocent countries taken by surprise would take.
Do you think that they will be allowed to do any of these things? Have those who planned their operation in South Ossetia against Russians thought them through?

I do not think that any of this has been properly prepared for. I think that Georgia is not a wronged party, and that they have been encouraged in this by elements within the American administration. I think that they will abandon this fight if the Russians keep punching as hard as they are punching because fundamentally the government of that country is only interested in the personal survival of its members.

But I stand ready to be proved wrong. My opinion is, as usual, irrelevant. This weekend, thousands of people have died as a consequence of the folly of war. May God have mercy on them.