As the eyes of the world were hypnotised by the dramatic opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the embers of another war were being kindled to flame in Europe.

As China was showing the world her aspirations as a dominant world power, trying to please her own people by wowing the world, Russia was showing the same desire. It harked back to the past – strength based on a show of brute force, with the bombing of the sovereign state of Georgia.

Did it really come so suddenly? I must admit, I for one was shocked – another war in Europe? How come no one saw this coming? No traditional media fanfare to build up to it, no experts talking about it.

Remember, we are getting an almost second-by-second build-up to a possible – or according to the media, "inevitable" – US/Israeli strike on Iran, which is a million miles away, but this conflict in Georgia is in our own backyard. Did everyone really just miss this mini war?

Am I to believe that presidents Putin and Bush sat together watching the awesome fireworks exploding in the sky over Beijing and "Vlad" did not care to mention that his own planned fireworks were about to start exploding on the ground in Georgia and the disputed province of South Ossetia?

Do I sound cynical? Forgive me, but ever since being part of the two million people who marched through London telling our leaders not to go to war in Iraq, I am compelled to take world events with a big dollop of cynicism. It makes it all easier to digest.

To my mind, Russia is clearly the aggressor, taking advantage of the hapless Georgian decision to reassert control over two of her breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and yet a majority of the media coverage in the US and UK is painting Russia as the victim.

Russia is and has been supporting and arming rebels in the breakaway republics since 1992. And now that Georgia has tried (all be it stupidly) to retake control of at least South Ossetia, Russia has decided on brutal military intervention.

Russian hypocrisy is annoying. The two territories broke away from Georgia for the same ethnic-nationalist reasons that Muslim-majority Chechnya broke away from Russia.

But while Moscow relentlessly and horrifically suppressed (bordering on genocide) Chechen attempts at independence, portraying them as terrorists, it fully and blatantly supports the Ossetian and Abkhazian attempts to do the same.

Clearly, I have no sympathy towards Russia here. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, due in no small part to the defeat in Afghanistan, Russia has been stirring her people towards an unhealthy nationalism – jingoistic and dangerous.

It is a nation that openly kills political opponents, even when they have sought sanctuary in other countries – remember the assassination in the UK of Alexander Litvenenko.

The Russians' continued interference in Afghanistan, even after their withdrawal in 1989, led eventually to the rise of the Taliban.

So why is everyone tolerating Russian belligerence? They have gas and oil.

It appears the only lesson we learn from history is that we never learn from history.