Russia recognizes independence of Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Russia upped the ante in their conflict with Georgia by formally recognizing the claims for independence by South Ossetia and Abkhazia today. In plain talk, Russia now considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be countries, the same as Georgia, or France, or the United States. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the decision a day after both houses of the Russian Duma (Parliament) passed resolutions urging him to do so.

It's a bold move by Medvedev, one that shows Russia is unconcerned about threats of retaliation from the United States, European Union, NATO, or any other international organization. It also greatly complicates the situation in Georgia since Russia has pledged to protect both new nations, with force if necessary. And since they are independent countries (in Russia's eyes), Georgia has no business doing anything on their territory. We saw the first test of this earlier today Russian troops turned back a squad of Georgian policemen trying to drive into South Ossetia.

So what's the future for Abkhazia and South Ossetia as nations? It's far too early to tell whether they will be like Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey), Kosovo (recognized by a few dozen countries, mostly EU/NATO members), or Taiwan (considered by the Chinese a renegade province, a nation by some countries and some sort of quasi-independent thing by many others who don't want to anger China). It's sure that the United States won't be sending an ambassador to Tskhinvali (South Ossetia's capital) anytime soon.