sirius_sir,

“As of now, we may safely assume S. Ossetia and Abkhazia are–or are well on the way to being–ethnically cleansed to reflect a putatively ‘Russian’ population. ”

not exactly – rather ossetian and abkhazian populations, respectively. both are vast majorities in their republics, both are very, very different from russians and from georgians – ethnically and culturally. they are being ethnically cleansed of ethnic georgians now, as georgian tried to ethnically cleanse these republics of the natives. those are the sorry facts of the matter.

i know most americans think that everybody is slav there, but do read something on the subject for jupiter sake!