Soslan Koshty

I'll clarify that the defeat of South Ossetia without RU participation was likely, but not certain or quick. Left to our own devices, we could have plausibly fought for a while. But that's a whole other topic.

Reflection is indeed important, and this concerns the topic of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. The latter doesn't exist anymore largely because the West chose to principally side with Azerbaijan (and Georgia). This should be food for thought, but, sadly, no one really cares.

Say what you will about Russia's policies, but its decision to help defend South Ossetia from Georgia's illegal attack was certainly both legal and correct. Otherwise, Georgian aggression would have resulted in the destruction of South Ossetia, which Europe would have just shrugged off.

Ordering a million people in Gaza to evacuate when there’s no safe place to go, is not an effective warning. The roads are rubble, fuel is scarce and the main hospital is in the evacuation zone. This warning doesn't give license to harm the many civilians who can't or won't leave.

Whether it's Nagorno-Karabakh 3 weeks ago (!!!) or Gaza today, whether you call it ethnic cleansing or population transfer (both crimes, btw), respectable foreign policy elites quietly consider it a solution (unfortunate, but still) to the messy problem of the wrong populations in the wrong place.