Georgia

I woke up this morning and started to check the news, and bang, Georgia and Russia are at war and Russia claims 1,500 people have already died.

Anyone else's jaw hit the floor?

The lead-up to this was not well-reported. I know I've been a little away from the news cycle lately, and blogging even less, but even so I only started seeing mentions of South Ossetia in the last couple days. I had no idea the tensions were this high.

How much of this conflict is actually about Georgia seeking to join NATO and how much is it about control over South Ossetia itself? The press articles I've read do a very poor job providing background on this conflict. :(