Caucasus crisis

So what's the logical candidate for the next major market-shaking geopolitical blowup?  Not Iran, not Venezuela, but maybe the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Moscow is mighty angry about Georgia's arrest of five Russian military officers for spying.  The arrests happen to coincide with a visit by Georgia's president Saakashvili to a disputed border region.  He came to power in one of those color-coded U.S.-sponsored "revolutions", and he's tight with Washington in a way that Russia's president Putin is not and never will be again.  Too, Washington has made a big investment in the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline that traverses Georgia (and bypasses Russia).

Watch this one closely: Russia just might be spoiling for an opportunity to stake a claim in its "near abroad."

Update: Justin Raimondo has some additional background as he surveys the landscape of several countries that had color-coded revolutions.

The Daily Reckoning