For many people the sight of Russian tanks streaming across a border in August has uncanny echoes of Prague 1968. That cold war reflex is natural enough, but it is misleading. Not every development in the former Soviet Union is a replay of Soviet history. It is crudely simplistic to cast Russia as the sole villain in the clashes over South Ossetia.
digg story
If you check out the Digg comments following the link above, there’s clearly a bunch of PUPTs in the comments. Some people’s bad English and outright bashing of Georgia is a clear indication of paid provocateurs. Some more clues – calling Georgia a US’s puppet, mentioning outrageous but unconfirmed casualties in 1500s or even 2000s as a proven fact (even though no pictures of video footage exist to support this), calling Saakashvili a mini-Hitler, and proclaiming Russia as a protector of it own citizens. In general, the situation itself has many common traits with Germany annexing Sudetes before World War II. Same type of claims, same passports distribution beforehand, same go-get attitude from the aggressor.
Again, I am trying to keep this blog as far from politics as possible, so take this as another look at the cyberwar (or information war).