The BBC showed footage the other night which they filmed a couple of weeks ago that they said was filmed by one of their crews and which they claimed depicted russian backed south ossetian seperatists attacking georgian targets in georgia.

To what extent is the "popular" uprising of the russian backed seperatists comparable to the "popular" uprising of the Contras in Nicaragua.

Is Russia deliberately trying to destabilize Georgia to effect a regime change in Georgia as Sakashvili claims?

Is the whole Contra thing the reason why America has been so quick to deduce the russians motives?

Is it a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or worse, is it a case of the Americans projecting their own guilt onto Russia?

Russian propaganda ... er ... news ... gives such a different picture to the news agencies that I trust that I have to consider that they do indeed have something to hide.

There simply isn't the same honest media scrutiny that we enjoy in the UK.