The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia

The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia
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Series Page
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Title page
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Copyright
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Contents
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List of Tables and Illustrative Materials
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List of Acronyms
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Acknowledgments
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Half-title
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1. Introduction
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2. The Paradox of Living in Paradise: Georgia’s Decent into Chaos
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Soviet Georgia
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Independence and the Gamsakhurdia Era
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Abkhazia
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3. Georgian-Russian Relations in the 1990s
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A Tumultuous Start: Georgian Independence without State and Russian Empire without Policy
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1993–95: Russian Hegemony and Pax Russica
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1995–99: Drifting Apart
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1999–2003: A New Vicious Circle in the Georgia-Russia Relationship
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Saving “Private Shevardnadze”: Moscow’s Paradoxical Attempt to Help the Kremlin’s Foe to Keep Power during the Rose Revolution
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Conclusion
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4. The Russian Leadership’s Preparation for War, 1999–2008
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September 1999–December 2002: The First Series of Coercive Actions, Capture of the South Ossetian Presidency
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Sabre-Rattling and the Battle for Adjara, January 2003–April 2004
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May 2004–April 2005: The Escalation of Tensions, Passports, Roads, Power Offensives, and the Battle for the Abkhaz Presidency
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The Deadline for the War is Set, Offensives on Wine and Mineral Water Fronts, May 2005–August 2006
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The “Spy War,” September–November 2006
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The Final Preparations for the Big War, December 2006–April 2008
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The Low Intensity War, April 20–July 28, 2008
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Launching the Big War, July 28–August 6, 2008
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The Rise of the “Young Reformers”
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The Rose Revolution
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Georgia after the Revolution: The Reform Agenda
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A Zeal for Territorial Integrity
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The End of the Revolutionary Era
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The Revolution’s International Dimension
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Conclusion
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6. From Neglect to Duress: The West and the Georgian Crisis Before the 2008 War
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Geostrategic Considerations for Europe and the U.S.
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The European Union
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The United States
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Conclusions
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Introduction
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From Kosovo to Bucharest
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From Bucharest to South Ossetia
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Conclusion
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Overview: The Lead-Up to the Russia-Georgia War
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Analysis: The Question of Responsibility
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Conclusions
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The Strategic Mismatch
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The Russian War Machine Goes into Action
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Georgia Counters Russian Onslaught with Military Improvisation
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Invasion from Abkhazia and Overall Georgian Defeat
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Retreat to Mtskheta: The Last Stand
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Why Did the Kremlin Stop the Advance on Tbilisi?
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10. Defining Victory and Defeat: The Information War Between Russia and Georgia
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The Changing Nature of Information War
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Moscow’s Information War and Georgia’s Defense
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Why Both Sides Decided They Lost the Information War
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Lessons for Future Information Wars
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11. The Implications of the Russia-Georgia War for European Security......Page 221
Habits of Bureaucracy and of Mind
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The Illusion of Convergence
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“On Our Terms”
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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
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Economics and Geo-Economics
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Resetting Relations and Paradigms
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Notes to Chapter 3 (Gordadze)
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Notes to Chapter 4 (Illarionov)
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Notes to Chapter 5 (Nilsson)
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Notes to Chapter 6 (Blank)
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Notes to Chapter 7 (Smith)
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Notes to Chapter 8 (Popjanevski)
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Notes to Chapter 9 (Felgenhauer)
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Notes to Chapter 10 (Goble)
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Notes to Chapter 11 (Sherr)
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Contributors
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Index
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