In Response to Who Started What

On YouTube there is a commentator sxephil, who I think is a really humorous guy, but is very lacking in the political commentary arena. I was really offset by his commentary about the Russian invasion of Georgia, and his conclusion that CNN, and other major news networks are portraying Russia as being the instigator, and at fault for starting a conflict with Georgia.
Now I'll school sxephil in a little lesson of what we like to call background research. If you consider the tensions of Russia and Georgia between the fall of the Soviet Union, and the current conflict, you will notice a lot of accusations towards Moscow, having fired missiles into Georgia, and failing to cooperate on a number of geo-political issues in that area. The Irish Times in January of 2006 stated that Moscow allowed the destruction of gas pipelines in both Ukraine and Georgian because these countries were accused of stealing gas to heat homes in the harsh winters of this area of the world. This was strictly an accusation that bore no facts, and instead Georgia and Ukraine's population was forced to purchase expensive gas on the black market. Both governments stated that "Russia is punishing them via energy blackmail."
Russia over a period of six years has accused Georgia of "threatening the security of its nationals". Okay, so let's consider first, the comparison of sizes here. Georgia weighs in as a country about the size of South Carolina, and a heaping population of 4 million. Now, Russia, cover a wopping 11 time zones, and carries a population of 143 million people. So if you consider these, who's the real threat to whom? Russia having a sizable military in comparison to Georgia, would you think Georgia would want to risk pissing off a giant country like Russia? I think not. Georgia is dealing with dissension among South Ossetians, which lies within Georgia's borders. If Georgia has to deal with dissenting nationals, then let them deal with it on their own terms, because it is within their borders, and not Russia's. So it leads us to think that Russia has a wider plot here, in that maybe they are either jockeying for position in the energy rich region, or are beginning to reclaim old Soviet territory.
Putin has stated back in 2006 to Knight Ridder Tribune, that Georgia is leeching off of Russia, taking advantage of its larger and more fruitful economy, yet in an interview on NPR's Morning Edition Lawrence Sheets interviews Ossetians who separated from Georgia, Sheets stated that Russia has obliged to give 90% of Osssetia's population with Russian passports, and supplying the South Ossetians with "big weapons transfers". Not only this but Russia is funneling currency into South Ossetia, thus getting economically involved with Georgia, who cannot maintain a stable economy because of this intentional move by Moscow.
So I'd like to end off by responding to sxephil, that you should weigh the facts before making one-sided comments like that, because a lot of people are watching you, and you are just as misleading as any incompetent major news network. In the case of Russia, according to The Economist, Georgia may have triggered this conflict, but it was the Russians who engineered it. So it's as they say, "Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'".