Group Assignment Russia vs. Georgia conflict

My first article is very informative from USA Today. What I have found out is that the main reason for this conflict is that Georgia launched a military strike on the province of South Ossetia, trying to reclaim the territory after 16 years of having slight independence. In return to this action, Russia sent tanks in. Originally, this shouldn't have been a problem because Georgia broke off of Russia in 1991, but the Russians feel that they need to have power over the bordering countries.

The other article I found was NPR.org. The information I obtained from this website was the different sides to the war. On the Georgia side, they believed that they needed to retake control because even though it is an independent territory, the crime rate is extremely high in South Ossetia. On the Russian side, like I said earlier, Russia was just trying to control the border to try to make things better. But by airstriking Georgia to gain control, it brought more countries into the mix and made the whole conflict worse.