In January, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas company Gazprom shut off the pipelines to Ukraine, causing shortages all throughout Europe. It could have been because Ukraine didn’t want to pay higher rates for its gas, but more likely it was political pressure aimed at dislodging the new pro-Western government of Viktor Yushchenko. And it worked. Now it looks like Russia’s favored candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, may be taking the reins of power soon.

But if you thought that was bad, it’s not the half of it.

Russia maintains “peacekeeper” troops in places where they aren’t want. One such place is the Transdnistria separatist region of Moldova, where an undemocratic pro-Russia government does its bidding. In the Caucasus, it maintains thousands of such troops in the Georgian breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both with undemocratic pro-Russia governments now. These so-called peacekeepers make sure that these governments cannot be dislodged by the Georgian government and reintegrated into the rest of the country.

Last week, the Georgian parliament voted for the Russian military to leave unconditionally. So what does Russia do?

For months, it has slowly been blockading the country, refusing to import many of its important products like wine. Now it has backed its ambitions by putting its support behind an Abkhazian militia leader who vows that he won’t allow Georgia to disarm his militia on the border. Russia warns that the operation could spark a wider conflict. Indeed, one day Georgia is going to try to retake control of its entire territory, and Russia will have to decide what it’s going to do.

The European Union voices its support for Georgia’s call for negotiation and reassertion of its sovereignty. Yet in reality it can do nothing, as Gazprom has the entire continent by the you-know-whats. At the same time, Georgia is a NATO-aspiring country, and if war were to break out, it would become a very complicated entanglement to say the least.

In the end I think Russia will have to allow the disarming of the militia, as it does lie outside of Abkhazia, and it would not want this larger armed conflict at the moment. Russia has already agreed to remove its peacekeepers from the separatist territories by 2008 and that it what will likely happen. It seems that nothing Georgia can do will work against its infinitely larger neighbor. The only purpose such votes serve is to beat the drum. They will just have to wait.