Welcome To Tblisi, Gentlemen

"Eastern Europe, 2008
The world teeters on the brink of war. Radical ultranationalists have seized power in Moscow - their goal, the reestablishment of the old Soviet empire. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan - one by onne the nearby independent republics slip back into the Russian orbit. Russian tanks sit in the Caucasus Mountains and the Baltic forests, poised to strike to the south and east. The world hold ots breath, and waits."

No, that's not the BBC or even CNN: instead, it's the video game Ghost Recon, which was released way back in 2001, when the rest of the world was obsessed with religious extremism, in which... well, I should just let the game tell you:



Yes, the game was about U.S. special operations facing Russia forces, centered on the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. And now that 2008 has rolled around, (now Prime Minister of Russia)Putin has declared that, 'War has started'.

So I guess my question is: Has Putin been playing too much Ghost Recon or what?