Why the Georgia/Russia Conflict is all our problem

To the Global Community:

We’re at a crossroads. The last half-century has fostered great progress, prosperity and increasing globalization. Due to globalization, events in one region can have a direct impact both politically and financially on the stability of seemingly unrelated regions throughout the rest of the world. This is relevant to the recent hostilities between Authoritarian Russia, Putin and his followers (not the people of Russia), and the Republic of Georgia.
Please excuse the history lesson about the conflicted region. For centuries, the inhabitants of South Ossetia lived harmoniously as Georgians, but tensions began to escalate amid the rising nationalism among both Georgians and Ossetians in 1989 – Russia fomented desire in South Ossetia to secede from Georgia. Before this, these groups lived in peace except for the 1918-1920 events – both ethnicities had heavy interaction and intermarriage. Georgia retained control over parts of the region's eastern and southern districts where it created, in April 2007, a Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia headed by ethnic Ossetians (former members of the separatist government) which would negotiate with central Georgian authorities regarding its final status and conflict resolution. While there have been setbacks to peace in this region, there has always been an effort to use diplomacy.
Russia has no interest in protecting the ethnic minority in South Ossetia, but is using this conflict as a chance to deploy troops and grab land, not unlike the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland in 1936, a key contributor to World War II. The Kremlin claims to protect Russian ethnic minorities in the disputed regions from suffering at Georgian hands, but there is little to support these claims. If the Kremlin is allowed to strong arm the international community by threat of conflict and is allowed to intimidate the global powers to inaction, what will happen when this revitalized superpower decides it wants more? Will the world stand by as the hard fought gains that were realized through four decades of vigilance become lost by fear of conflict and the inability to act as we all know is just?
The Kremlin is using tensions between South Ossetia and Georgia to penetrate deep into Georgia proper with an eye on claiming an important pipeline. Russia covets this vital piece of infrastructure because it would greatly increase their petroleum profits. This would be catastrophic because the world economy would be hostage to Putin and the Kremlin’s greed. If the denial of a Visa for the Chief of the joint venture between BP and TNK, a Russian state-run oil company, is any indication of the Kremlin’s spirit of collaboration, foreign interests should beware
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/chief-of-bp-venture-forced-to-leave-russia/
At this moment, BP is diverting all oil flow away from this region for fear of Russian Nationalization of this infrastructure.
This is not just a fight for Georgia, but a fight to preserve the balance in the financial markets. The rest of the world will see an increase in the price of oil, natural gas and many other petroleum based products. This turmoil will increase costs beyond the very high prices being paid today to heat homes, offices and to fuel both consumer/commercial traffic. Not only is it ethically right to challenge the Kremlin, but it is also in our financial interest to do so. I urged you to participate in any way you see fit.

Very truly yours,

Friends of Georgia