“Georgia accuses Russia of executing a long-planned war with the aim of taking control of the pipeline that carries Asian oil to Black Sea ports.”

QuestionGirl was right. It was about the oil!

Georgian breakaway city in ruins

TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia (CNN) — Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist Georgian province South Ossetia, lay in smoldering ruins Sunday after three days of fighting between Georgian troops and Russian forces.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister said at least 2,000 people, mostly South Ossetians who claim Russian citizenship, have been killed in Tskhinvali.

The fighting had spread well beyond South Ossetia, with Russian airstrikes on Georgian cities and with thousands of Russian troops in the breakaway province of Abkhazia.

The United States warned Sunday that “disproportionate” actions against Georgia could have a “significant long term impact on U.S.-Russian relations.”