Georgian Conflict Goes to International Court

NY Times: Georgia and Russia carried their dispute over the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the International Court of Justice on Monday, as three days of hearings began over Georgia’s request for an injunction ordering Russia to stop “terrorizing” ethnic Georgians and to allow refugees to return to their homes.

Georgia’s first deputy minister of justice, Tina Bujaliani, said her country was urgently turning to the court — the United Nations’ highest — “at a time of great distress in its history, a time when hundreds of thousands of its nationals are persecuted and displaced from their homes only because they are Georgians.”

Russia, as expected, challenged the court’s jurisdiction and asked it to dismiss the Georgian application. Roman Kolodkin, the legal department director at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the judges that Georgia had provoked the current crisis last month when it began an attack to recover control of South Ossetia. He said that Russia had no choice but to become involved to prevent further deaths, and that now that the two regions were independent, Russia could not be held responsible.

So...basically...it's the same rhetoric we've been hearing for weeks. And, now someone has to rule on it....This will go well. No repercussions.