it seems that the population of south ossetia is about 70,000 people - gosh, they could all fit into the stands of the mcg, and it would look half empty.
because the conflict involves russia, then of course the matter is important. a bit of a read of the history, and it all gets confusing.
most conflicts have economic issues (ie resources of some kind) as the underlying causes. as an example, from some reading, it is possible that the invasion of afghanistan was related to issues involving oil pipelines. likewise some reading suggests that the conflict in georgia/ south ossetia also has issues relating to pipelines. iraq of course was only about oil. it seems that control of the oil, and the pipelines is pretty serious business
extremely sad, that so many people seem to be dead because of the problem. hopefully the matter will be resolved before there are more serious consequences
