Robert Amsterdam

I am only being somewhat facetious in the title of this post, but I just wanted to underscore the logic expressed in Medvedev's Financial Times editorial yesterday, "Why I had to recognise Georgia’s breakaway regions," which presents both the invasion and the recognition of the territories as obligatory outcomes of Russia's duty to protect its citizens abroad. Whichever major PR company drafted the text for Medvedev, they unwillingly exposed a crisis of confidence and legitimacy among Kremlin leadership over these events.

But perhaps there is also a pre-emptive warning in the note. French President Nicholas Sarkozy, for example, may want to keep an eye out for any Russian officials distributing passports in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, the French Riviera enclave where 60% of the +100 million euro mansions are now owned by Russians. According to the argument expressed in the FT, the army may as well annex this area as well.