Troops gather on Georgian border
It's easy to see how things could spiral out of control: the two sides are braced for combat. At Ergneti on Georgia's border with South Ossetia, Georgian military police stand guard behind high barricades made of sandbags and two metre-high slabs of concrete. Out of sight barely 20 metres away, the forces of South Ossetia and Russia are mustered behind barricades of their own, their national flags fluttering.
The tranquility of the rolling green fields and lush vineyards belie it, but many fear that another summer war between Russia and Georgia like the one 11 months ago which killed hundreds of civilians is no more than a stutter of automatic gunfire away from breaking out. And if it happens, this standoff at Ergneti could be the flashpoint.
In the valley below is Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. Today it shimmers in the heat but last August it was the epicentre of the war as the forces of the Russian Federation punished the Georgian army for asserting its right to rule the ethnically distinct entity of South Ossetia on its northern edge.
The tension is palpable. And the fear today is that this time, the Russian forces may carry out what last year they only threatened and topple the regime of the Western-leaning Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili. More
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