Self-determination eh? If that was in anyway desireable to the Russians why was there never a United Socialist Soviet Republic of Ossetia, or the other lump of Georgia that the "neutral" Russian peacekeepers have poured troops into?

The USSR set the boundaries of both Georgia and Ukraine. Interesting to see what those countries will look like once all the dust settles. It won't start WW3, but will definitely start "Cold War 2".

The oligarchs that "looted" Russia were the former "elite" of Russia, Putin knows them well, most of them served with him in the KGB.