So, what does South Ossetia look like now that it is "independent"?


"It has largely stood empty since nearly all of Tskhinvali's 2,000 Jews fled in 1991 during a war in which South Ossetians won de facto self rule, although the building is occasionally used by a Christian group.

All but 17 of South Ossetia's Jews left during the earlier conflict, mostly going to Israel or Russia, and all but one of those fled during the recent war, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee says. The one remaining Jew, a 71-year-old woman, apparently sought shelter elsewhere."



"Before the conflict, the province was a patchwork of ethnic Georgian and South Ossetian villages, but many Georgian villages around Tskhnivali were still burning Friday and bore evidence of looting by Ossetians.

Many Ossetians said they would never again live side by side with Georgians. "




Juden AND Georgian frei...