Note first that Georgia does not have South Ossetia, and basically never has, since the breakup of the USSR. A Russian “peacekeeping” battalion has been deployed in South Ossetia for some time.

Georgia reportedly has had robust economic growth in recent years and while it has no oil supplies of its own, is planning to become a transshipment point for oil and gas from Azerbaijan. So it is positioning itself to become independent of Russian energy supplies. And it is not hard to imagine this strategy helping out the Ukraine, which has its own serious problems with Russia but depends on Russian energy supplies.

Georgia itself is about the size of South Carolina, so it’s not that big. But it is not hard to imagine the Russians visualizing an Ukrainian/Georgian alliance that would look like a real threat to Russian interests.

It is unlikely that Georgia will get South Ossetia “back.” The real problem is if Russia decides to go into Georgia.