No One Has Addressed WHY Russia Invaded Ukraine (So I’ll Do It)
There are bigger reasons at play than an insane madman flexing power
In August 2008, the geopolitical intelligence company I worked for went on red alert.
Red alerts were an internal code for “All hands on deck. Something in the world just exploded.” That day, I got to work creating maps of Russian and Georgian troop movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, separatist areas inside the country of Georgia. For the next several days, I would work late into the night reviewing analyst data and updating movements. The invasion eventually became known as the Russo-Georgian War, with the end result being that Russian troops would withdrawal from Georgia, but that Abkhazia and South Ossetia would remain Russian-occupied territories.
Georgia was a small country most people had never heard of, and jokes about Russians invading the U.S. state of Georgia abounded. At the heart of why the Russians invaded a relatively unknown country became an enigma to the populace, but within our company everyone reached the same conclusion — Russia did not want Georgia to become a NATO state.
But there was more to the puzzle. Why invade? What benefits would the Russians have in obtaining this small country?
