Two months after the incident, let’s look back at the 2008 South Ossetia War, all right? A few days after the war, almost every supposed Western politician was shouting into the world that Russia would be blacklisted, forgotten, and omitted from the world loop. Yes, the worlds largest country would be erased from mankind’s consciousness, deleted from history books, big yellow stickers would be put over the country on geographical maps, and every mentioning of the word “Russia” would be bleeped in old movies.

Georgia on the other hand would be declared holy, the ultimate land of peace, democracy and freedom, where no corruption, warfare or ideologic politics exists. White doves would inhabit the sky, pink spring blossoms would fill the fields, a fresh breeze of clean, natural air flowing through the lands. Quite possibly the first World President would be from Georgia, not to mention that the United Nations headquarters would definitely relocate from its current position to Tbilisi. Georgian would replace English as the new world language!

Now, lets evaluate. Has Russia been blacklisted? Ignored? Pushed out of the diplomatic loop? Is Georgia the promised land, the future leader of the world? Are white doves inhabiting its skies and is the ultimate democracy present in Georgia? NO.

Why not? Because it’s exactly the same issue (not in details, in its broader sense) as it was with the United States engaging on its War on Terrorism in the Middle East. Are political repercussions even possible for Russia? Considering it’s still the worlds largest nation when it comes to landmass, still one of the worlds largest owners of nuclear warfare material, still the worlds eleventh biggest economic power block¹, and still a United Nations Security Council permanent member with veto power.

Looking back with a realistic, nonpartisan² view on what happened, has Georgia really lost anything? Control over both South Ossetia and Abkhazia? No, were already self-controlled. The loss of many devoted Georgians? No, can’t say the South Ossetians or Abkhaz people were all that into Georgia in the first place — to put it more realistically, they hate and despise Georgia. So, Georgia hasn’t lost their support. Lets see, economically prosperous industry that has gone lost? Not really, with South Ossetia not really an industry powerhouse, and yes, they did truly lose the Abkhaz industry, but since they already had no control over it, nothing has really been lost.

Has international sovereignty been violated beyond repair? Please, what about the American invasion of Iraq? Not to mention their sporadic unauthorised trips into Pakistan, the fact that Tibet has been enslaved by the People’s Republic of China for decades now, and that there still is no solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The principle of international sovereignty has been violated basically on a day-to-day basis ever since it came into existence.

The world and its politics really haven’t been shaken that much since the 2008 South Ossetia War. Politicians would like you to believe it has, they would love to imprint the thought of a New and Righteous World vs. Russia into your head. But at the end of the day, for world politics nothing has really changed that much.

For the South Ossetians and Abkhaz people though, their lives have changed forever. Freedom, self-government and national identity is what they have achieved. Now lets just be happy for them and finalise those recognitions, all right?