Round Two: Georgia limbers up for a rematch with Moscow

STANDING in the middle of the country, the Caucus mountains in the background, with Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian checkpoints just a few hundred metres away made Georgia’s Rose Revolution seem like a mirage.

This was compounded by the sight of two tanks, some green tents and Russian soldiers on the hill opposite, across the river that formed the old administrative boundary of the Georgian province of South Ossetia.

The other consequences of the three-day war last August were in Tbilisi just a few kilometres away in near-derelict apartment blocks and hurriedly constructed houses for the thousands of ethnic Georgians forced to flee from their homes in South Ossetia.