Putin illogical conclusion in Georgia

Scotsman:

RUSSIAN troops advanced into Georgia yesterday, shifting the bloody conflict out of its separatist regions and prompting claims from the Georgian president that Moscow had "cut the country in half".

The two-pronged attack from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia came as Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, rejected calls for a ceasefire and promised to take the operation to its "logical conclusion".

Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, said he backed a European Union plan for a return to pre-conflict positions in South Ossetia, a joint peacekeeping force and monitoring by Europe's largest security body.

Later the Georgian government said Russia was trying to "conquer" Georgia, amid evidence Moscow was preparing to escalate its military action. Reports last night indicated Russian troops now control many key bridges and roads, leaving the capital, Tbilisi, isolated and causing residents to panic.

The Georgian embassy in London said Russian jets had bombed Tbilisi throughout the night. Russia's actions had "nothing to do with the enforcement of peace" in separatist South Ossetia but were a "pre-planned strategy aimed at conquering Georgia", it said.

...

If Putin has a logical conclusion in mind he should say what it is because it is not apparent from Russian actions. If it is his logic to subjugate Georgia and overthrow its government, then he should be honest enough to say so. But honesty has been in short supply in this contrived action by Russia.

Putin may think he has the ship hand right now, but after this is over with there will be consequences that he may find disconcerting and unpleasant. In the defying world opinion Moscow will have fewer friends and also find itself excluded from some world commerce.