Blatant and obvious to all, hypocrisy at its best.

In response to the Georgian offensive against Russian peacekeeping forces within the de-facto independent state of South Ossetia (ethnically Russian). The U.S. State Department supports Georgia's "territorial integrity". What a shame it doesn't support Serbia's territorial integrity - or anybody else's for that matter, unless of course they're a reliable business partner.

South Ossetia's independence was forced by rebels during the early 1990s, until 1992 when a ceasefire was declared and a small Russian-Georgian-Ossetian peacekeeping force was put into place to oversee the ceasefire.

Condoleezza Rice has the nerve to tell Russia to pull its peacekeeping force out of South Ossetia - maybe she hasn't heard that it's their job to be there under the terms of the 1992 ceasefire. Unlike the US and its little invasion forces that have been occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, or before that Yugoslavia etc, honestly you can just go on and on.

Despite two referendums on independence from Georgia - both of which passed with over 95% of the vote, the international community has not recognised South Ossetia's independence, Geogian president Saakashvili vowed to restore "order" to South Ossetia after his election.

Last night Georgian forces opened an artillery barrage and air strikes against the South Ossetian capital; Tskhinvali, and Russian peacekeeping forces in the area, Ossetian forces have stated they estimate 1,400 civilians have died as a result of Georgian forces shelling the capital. It looks like Mr Saakashvili's little gamble of ending the issue by pushing Russian and Ossetian rebel forces out of the country quickly, while nobody noticed during the Olympics has failed, as Russian forces counter-attacked, with Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev announcing anybody killing Russian citizens will receive a "deserved punishment".

Georgian forces should be pushed out of South Ossetia, and the South Ossetian government should call for a referendum to determine if South Ossetia should be integrated into the Russian Federation, something no doubt a huge proportion of the population already support.

Georgia has been feeling like they could get away with anything over recent years, they've been pushing Russia harder and harder and finally it looks like Russia is going to hit back. So much so Mr Saakashvili has gone into a panic; recalling troops from Iraq, and begging with anybody to intermediate and negotiate a cease fire. Maybe he should have thought about that before ordering Georgian forces to launch an attack upon civilians and peacekeeping forces within South Ossetia.