The Consequences of Georgia's Crisis

Georgia's military activities for regaining domination over two separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia during summer 2008 created a new crisis in the troubled region of Caucasus. Russia's military operations to protect these two regions and its unilateral act of recognition of the independence of them led to tensions in relations between Russia and the West, especially the U.S. The author tries to study the factors responsible for creating the crisis and its consequences for Georgia's internal situation and great powers reactions as well as opportunities and challenges provided by it for Iran. The author believes that Russia's interest for preserving the former Soviet Union's military bases located in Georgia and Georgia's insistence on the withdrawal of Russian troops from these bases have been always a point of contention in relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, relations between Russia and the West had deteriorated due to the increasing influence of NATO in the periphery zone of Russia, epitomized by studying the membership of Georgia and Ukraine in NATO. He concludes that rivalry and tension between extra-regional powers in the Caucasus along with problems related to national and ethnic identity have contributed to the accumulation and continuation of crisis in the region.