JoshC:
I keep hearing claims of “atrocities”, “genocide”, “cities being levelled” etc. Yet I’ve not seen any evidence of any such thing. The Russians have complete control over South Ossetia. If there has been massacres there then where’s the photographic proof?

The “proof” is being manufactured even as we speak. What has surprised me is just how primitive the Russian propaganda has been. Cranked out of some warehouse from the 1930s or earlier. On the other hand it has proven effective for Putin’s purpose. Maybe he needs to get points for sticking to what he knows and keeping it simple. His biggest innovation has been flooding the minorities of the regions he has occupied with Russian passports. The Germans did not think of doing that before the Sudeten or Danzig crises.