Notwithstanding the ridiculousness of some of the rhetoric in today's US papers, Russia has clearly stepped over the line in Georgia. Russian commentators, fed by a steady onslaught of their government's propaganda about Georgian "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing," almost certainly will deny it, but the Georgian offensive in South Ossetia--as well as the civilian losses it inflicted and the refugees it created--does not provide a pretext for...

The FSB is claiming that they've captured nine Georgia "special service" agents who were "plotting terrorist attacks" inside Russia.More later.

Given the outpouring of hyperbolic rhetoric in US opinion-editorials today (more on this later), some more level-headed commentary is in order. I've already posted on Charles King's excellent CSM editorial; today, James Poulos weighs in in The Guardian:Saakashvili's overheated rhetoric – "If the whole world does not stop Russia," he has remarked, "then Russian tanks will be able to reach any other European capital" – is illustrative of the kind...

My colleague, Charles King, is one of the foremost authorities on the Caucasus in the United States. His take on the conflict appears in tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor:American and European diplomats, who have rushed to the region to try to stop the conflict, would do well to consider the broader effects of this latest round of Caucasus bloodletting – and to seek perspectives on the conflict beyond the story of embattled democracy and...

Early reports suggest that the US UNSC draft resolution condemns the Russians and calls for a return to the status quo prior to the Georgian offensive, a message the US has also publicly delivered through diplomatic channels.This comes as the Georgians insist they've pulled their forces back and call for cease-fire negotiations. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov disputes Georgian claims that their forces have left South Ossetia, the Russians...

The Russians refused Georgia's request for a cease fire. The UN says that the war is escalating and widening to Abkhazia. Interfax reports that "The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Ukraine of facilitating Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia and ethnic cleansing in the breakaway Georgian province by selling weapons to Tbilisi." I was talking about the conflict today with someone who commented (more or less) "I wonder if the Russians...

I'm unlikely to provide much in the way of news aggregation on the South Ossetian conflict tonight, so I wanted to make sure that I mentioned something about the Russian coverage of the conflict. If you're only reading the "western press," you may not be adequately aware of the kinds of accusations circulating in the Russian press and coming from Russian officials. In general, there's a lot of attention to the plight of South Ossetian refugees....