"  WAR ? battle  ? ==

This was not a battle.
Russia had won before hand.
THis was a murder commited by georgia just to spite the pro-russian ""rebels"" in Ossetia and Abkahzia. 

 The Georgians knew they would lose Ossetia and Abkazia.  Georgia knew that NATO membership wouldnt entitle them to  keep the two areas, they knew that NATO membership wouldnt keep Russian troops away. 

They  knew from the start they were not going to reclaim Osssetia for long.
They knew if they struck in Abkazia , they would be wiped out in a few minutes, they had no targets in reach. So thats why they chose Ossetia.. This is not the battle for ossetia. This was  simply murder of ossetians for the sake of murdering.

Either georgia wanted to  start WW III, OR they just wanted to murder   the seperatists, out of a sick sort of ""pride"", out of a derranged sense of right and wrong. That is it. that is what this killing was about.  There was no war. The russians merely came in as a police action, as if following the script the Georgians had written .. that is, there was no battle that Goergia can win, this was purely sacrifice of its own merely to murder civilians. call it murder or genocide please.

=="