It so happened that we had to step into the year of 2009 with another Palestinian-Israeli war. The operation "Cast Lead" launched on 27 December 2008 has already taken about one thousand Palestinian lives. It would be naпve to judge the war only from the viewpoint of the coming elections in Israel or from the standpoint of the possible threat to the Jewish Government from Iran. It can be said that military operations in Gaza were predetermined the moment eviction of the Jews began. If we also take into consideration the incessant bombardments by the Hamas movement against the remaining Jewish settlements in Gaza, it can be said for sure that neither the Israeli Prime-Minister, whoever he might be, nor the Foreign Minister could change the forthcoming events.

The year of 2008 was also a time of reformatting the South Caucasus Region. After the «five-day» war of Georgia against South Ossetia it became clear that new division lines were to be outlined in the region. No doubt unwilling to do it himself, President of Georgia made a «regal» present to RF that had long been waiting for an opportunity to gain revenge against the USA for the too profound an interference it had in the solution of Caucasus problems. The result was a much more chaotic bedlam in which even the most «skillful» states were unable to "catch a fish".