Nato and Georgia
Nato, whose membership recently defended and encouraged a province of Serbia to breakaway and declare independence, is scolding Russia over a couple of breakaway provinces of Georgia.
Nato has warned Russia that its recent troop build-up in Georgia's two breakaway regions undermines its neighbour's territorial integrity.
Russia's moves in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were raising tensions in the area, a Nato spokesman said.
Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is also boosting Russian peacekeeping forces there and in South Ossetia.
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Russia has kept a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under an agreement made following the wars of the 1990s, when the regions broke away from Tbilisi and formed links with Moscow.
There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have flared up recently, despite Russia lifting economic sanctions against Georgia earlier this month.
Last week, Georgia accused a Russian plane of shooting down an unmanned Georgian spy plane - which Russian authorities insisted was shot down by Abkhaz rebels.
And on Tuesday, Georgia said it was blocking Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization.
It's hard to say at this point whether the tensions will increase to the point of open fighting between the two sides. The breakaway provinces point to Kosovo as a precedent for their own situation, but of course when seen through the lens of the new Cold War, Kosovo's breaking away was good because it weakened a Russian ally. Abkhazia and South Ossetia breaking away are bad because they're tied closely to Russia.
On the bright side, at least George Bush never got his way in making Georgia a Nato member state, which would have put the entire alliance at risk of war with Russia should this get uglier than it already is.
