Russia decided to invade a sovereign democratic Georgia. Russia is bombing Georgian cities, airports, railway, stadiums, civilian blocks, and everything that can be leveled to the ground. While international community stands by, thousands of civilians are wounded and dieing from blasts coming from Russian tanks and air force. Russia has INVADED a democratic sovereign country!

Immediate action is required to Stop Russia. United States, European Union, United Nations and others must do everything to stop this disaster as soon as possible. There is no time to stand by. Please sign the petition and inform everybody about the current events that are taking place.

Please be informed and alert: The media controlled by Russian Government is spreading miss information about the events that are taking place in Georgia, claiming that Russia is supporting peace, and Georgians are to blame. Do not be fooled by the tricks and propaganda of the Russian television!

More detail on what happened:
You might have been hearing different rumors about what happened, most of which are lies and propaganda by Russian media. Here's what really happened: Georgia has a province 'South Ossetia' which tried to separate from Georgia after Soviet Union fell early 1990ies (Soviet Union had occupied Georgia and it's provinces for over 70 years) the attempt of separation of this province was masterminded in Russian government and backed for all these years. The separatist movement resulted a conflict between Georgia and it's region 'South Ossetia', but in reality it was a conflict between Russia and Georgia. Russia brought it's troops in the region for peacekeeping and supplied separatists with arms of unimaginable amount, which really was for control in the region.

Since then Georgia tried multiple times to resolve the conflict peacefully offering separatist defacto government autonomy and everything they could have ever dreamt of, but resolved conflict never was in Russian plan as the idea was to annex and take away this land from Georgia. Russia's current goal is to destabilize Georgia to prevent it from entering NATO as they have said: 'We will do anything to prevent Georgia and Ukraine from entering NATO'. Recently, South Ossetian side carried out a Russian plan to provoke Georgia and pull it into conflict by bombing Georgian civilian villages for 11 days. Georgia did not respond, asked separatists to stop bombing, but they did not. Georgian government made a decision to carry out an operation to crack down on separatists militants who had been doing terrorism in region for a while now. Georgian forces forced the separatist militants out of their positions and they fled North to the Russian border. Russia responded by invading Sovereign country and bombing not only South Ossetian region, but entire Georgia.

These are the words from an anxious Georgia girl. She is really worrying about her nation. This is showing the worries of each and every Georgian people. What is actually happened? Let us give an eye on that to know what is happening…

Why is Russia invading Georgia now?
The South Ossetians of Georgia have been in conflict with the Georgian government since just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. Between 1918 and 1920, the first overtures to South Ossetian independence were made during a series of Ossetian rebellions against the first Georgian Republic. Once Georgia came under Soviet rule in 1923, and for the remainder of Soviet rule, there was peace between the two groups. Major violent conflict erupted again, however, between Ossetian separatist guerillas and Georgian troops in the early 1990’s, and then once more in 2004. The basic domestic and international issues surrounding the conflict are the South Ossetians' claims of unequal treatment under Georgian rule and subsequent demands for cultural, social, economic and political protections as a minority group, Russia’s desire to punish Georgia for its increasingly pro-Western political orientation, and outside concerns about the stability and accessibility of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline running partly through Georgia. However, at the conflict’s most basic level, it is a conflict over land and territory. Georgia wants to maintain its territorial integrity and thus prevent the region of South Ossetia from seceding, while South Ossetia wants to either establish independence or join with North Ossetia and come under Russian rule.

Who are Ossetians?
The Ossetians are a distinct ethnic group originally from the Russian plains just south of the Don river. In the 13th Century, they were pushed southwards by Mongol invasions into the Caucasus mountains, settling along the border with Georgia. South Ossetians want to join up with their ethnic brethren in North Ossetia, which is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.
Ethnic Georgians are a minority in South Ossetia, accounting for less than one-third of the population. But Georgia rejects even the name of South Ossetia, preferring to call it by the ancient name of Samachablo, or Tskhinvali, after its main city.

The Ossetians are spread across several countries including Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and others. However, the home base is Ossetia itself which is also divided between countries; the north in Russia and the south in Georgia. The goal of the South Ossetian separatists is to either gain its independence or unite with North Ossetia, which lies in Russia.

Ethnically, the Ossetians are of Iranian stock and speak their own language, which is closely related to Pashto, and more distantly to Farsi. They claim to be the descendents of the ancient Alanian and Scythian tribes and therefore to have been inhabiting the South Caucasus for thousands of years. The Georgians, on the other hand, are a Caucasian people and speak a language belonging to the Caucasian family. The Georgians also claim to have ancient roots in the South Caucasus, while at the same time arguing that the Ossetians only migrated to the Caucasus between the 17th and 19th centuries. Along religious lines, both are predominately Orthodox Christian, with a Sunni Islam minority among the Ossetians. Therefore, the conflict between the two peoples is not based on religion, but rather on ethnicity, and territory.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union and the creation of the new independent state of Georgia, the South Ossetians have felt oppressed and threatened by Georgian domestic policies. For example, Georgian was made the official administrative language throughout the state, but the Ossetians wanted their own language to be official in the South Ossetia region.

The conflict began with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's, when the South Ossetians saw the dismantling of the Soviet Empire as an opportunity to establish their independence from Georgia. In 1991, violent conflict broke out between Georgian and South Ossetian forces resulting in hundreds of thousands being killed, displaced, or injured on both sides. In 1992 a peace deal was struck with the aid of Russia and a peacekeeping force comprised of Russian, Georgian, North and South Ossetians was formed to maintain peace among the population groups. The peace was relatively stable and lasted until 2004, when violent conflict again broke out as a result of the Georgian government's attempt to close down the significant black market trade going on between South Ossetia and Russia. The violence has again subsided, however the conflict is far from solved.

Tension has risen since the election of President Saakashvili in 2004. He offered South Ossetia dialogue and autonomy within a single Georgian state - but in 2006 South Ossetians voted in an unofficial referendum to press their demands for complete independence.

In April 2008 Nato said Georgia would be allowed to join the alliance at some point - angering Russia, which opposes eastward expansion of Nato. Weeks later, Russia steps up ties with the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In July Russia admitted its fighter jets entered Georgian airspace over South Ossetia to “cool hot heads in Tbilisi”. Occasional clashes escalated, until six people were reportedly killed by Georgian shelling. Attempts to reach a ceasefire quickly collapsed.

The introduction to the conflict began with violent clashes on Wednesday, 6 August 2008 with both sides claiming having been fired upon by the other. The Georgian interior ministry indicated Georgian forces had returned fire only after South Ossetian positions shelled Georgian-controlled villages and accused the South Ossetian side of "trying to create an illusion of serious escalation, an illusion of war.

Russia insists it has been acting as a peacekeeper in South Ossetia, rejecting Georgian accusations that it has been supplying arms to the separatists.

However, it has vowed to defend its citizens in South Ossetia - of which there are many. More than half of South Ossetia’s 70,000 citizens are said to have taken up Moscow’s offer of a Russian passport.

Russia may view limited military intervention as less risky than recognizing South Ossetia’s independence, which could lead to all-out war with Georgia.
Twice in the past century, when the empire to the north weakened and Georgia declared its independence, the Southern Ossetes revolted against Georgian rule. It happened in 1918-20, between the collapse of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union’s conquest of Georgia in 1921; and it happened again in our own time with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Many factors are involved in the present conflict but the central one is straightforward: the majority of the Ossetes living south of the main Caucasus range in Georgia wish to unite with the Ossetes living to the north, in an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation; and the Georgians, regarding South Ossetia as both a legal and a historic part of their national territory, refuse to accept this.

The role of America
Anticipating events, the Russians have long accused the Americans of attempting to push Russia out of the Caucasus. Russian propagandists have said that Westerners are greedy for oil (i.e., the Baku oil fields). It has even been alleged that America has fueled the war in Chechnya and seeks to destroy Russia itself.

Noting the proximity of Azerbaijan to Iran, one ought to speculate on the fact that a war has been brewing between Iran and the U.S. for three years. By invading Georgia the Russians are assuring the Iranians of Moscow’s readiness to confront the U.S. By invading Georgia the Russians are aggravating the global energy crisis by strengthening all anti-American forces in the Middle East.
The price of oil isn’t merely about oil. It is about food, the U.S. dollar and power-politics.

Westerners, however, are always “mystified” when the Russians seem to act contrary to their own economic interest. It is true that Russia has benefited from high energy prices. More significantly, Russia will benefit even more when the U.S. dollar collapses.

In every strategic equation losses are relative. If you are somewhat hurt and your enemy is crippled, you’ve won a great victory. After all, war is about accepting damage as well as inflicting damage. And war between America and Russia has been the game all along. Only the American side has consistently refused to recognize the fact. In Washington they have mislead themselves about Russia’s long term strategic intentions. And even now they will continue to mislead themselves. American pundits will puzzle over Russia’s invasion of Georgia. And perhaps the Russians will pull back, having gained some significant concession from Washington. It is hard to say at this early hour.

Some may speculate that it’s about the price of oil, as the world’s second-longest oil pipeline passes through Georgia. And this point should be considered. But more than anything, the invasion impacts U.S.-Russian relations in a decisive manner. It changes the political atmosphere in Europe and the Far East, in Washington and London and Tokyo.

If we look at Russian rhetoric and Russian actions over the past nine years we will find a pattern. In recent months the Russians have been acting as if they want to provoke a break with the Americans. They want to put themselves openly and honestly on the other side of the fence. If there is global conflict anywhere in the world the Russian government wants to take the side of America’s enemy. In Venezuela, in Africa, in the Middle East, in the Far East, the Russians want to renew the confrontation between East and West.