The Russia/Georgia conflict in three sentences

squashed:

After Georgia broke away from Russia, South Ossetia and another province tried to break away from Georgia, succeeding autonomy-wise but failing map-wise.  As Georgia cozied up to the United States, Russia cozied up to South Ossetia, deploying “peace-keepers” and distributing Russian passports like candy.  After Georgia decided to crush South Ossetia and its rebels into submission, Russia decided to “defend the peace” … by crushing Georgia—or at least its military—into submission.