Georgia and Russia have stumbled into a war that need not have happened.

The epicentre is South Ossetia, which is home to both ethnic Ossetians and Georgians (the latter accounting for about a third of the 70,000 population). The destruction there has been appalling, and it looks as though many hundreds of civilians have died, in the first place as a result of the initial Georgian assault of 7-8 August 2008.

Ossetians fleeing the conflict-zone talk of Georgian atrocities, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

in a second wave of violence, Georgians - from Gali in Abkhazia to Gori in the north of the country - are fleeing and dying.

Saakashvili went for the military option. The Georgian military launched a massive artillery attack on Tskhinvali, followed the next day by a ground assault involving tanks. This against a city with no pure military targets, full of civilians

Ossetians

felt more comfortable with Russian rule