This article reports from Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian city where Medvedev and Putin claim more than two-thousand people died in an act of Georgian "genocide," thereby necessitating the Russian invasion. Yet, once again, Russian credibility suffers as reporters who venture into the affected areas find no substantiation for such claims. This article reports that the damage in Tskhinvali appears more likely to have been the result of clashes between Russian and Georgian forces after the Russian invasion, which if true would invalidate Russian claims.

This report captures well the depth of grievance felt by South Osetians in the wake of the failed Georgian attempt to crush the movement toward full autonomy (if not outright independence). Before the recent disaster, I thought there was a slight possiblity Georgia could "kill with kindness" the attempt to secede from Georgia. This would have required Georgia to forego joining NATO, and to rely on economic development and better relations with Russia. All that is history,as is made clear in this fine reporting from South Ossetia.

This story has two themes that taken together give some perspective on the situation in South Ossetia: 1) The attack on Ossetia wasn't nearly as bad as the Russians claimed; 2) but it was bad and the people are still suffering. The descriptions of the city and impressions of the people are valuable for presenting the human cost. The article also provides some historical and contemporary context re the independence of Ossetia.

Yes, tried to give us information so we could understand what was going on there. Tried to give some history of the area. Used qualifyign words as "doesn't APPEAR" so as not to make a claim they couldn't substantiate.

Here is a BBC clip from two days before 8/8 showing Georgians already fighting in south ossetia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1f0_hGSUwk The official count isn't over 2000 as the LA Times article says, that was a preliminary estimate. Here are better numbers (1600 civilians) http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/29005 Georgian peacekeeping troops literally stabbed russian peacekeeping troops in the back right before the main attack.