Georgia Country

Just hours before the caldron was lighted to mark the start of these Winter Olympics, a young athlete's life was snuffed out in a horrific crash on the world's fastest luge track. On a morning training run under the first blue sky in days, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, of the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled at about 80 mph as he came out of the final curve -- nicknamed Thunderbird -- and approached the finish line. He catapulted over the outer lip of the track and slammed into an unpadded roof support post.

There were supposed to be eight athletes from the country of Georgia in the 21st Winter Olympics. One is missing. That left the Georgian delegation in Friday's opening ceremony to wear black armbands as they mourned their missing teammate, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, who died in a horrifying crash during a luge training run barely eight hours earlier. The athletes followed a flag with a black streamer carried by Alpine skier Iason Abramashvili. The 60,600 people at BC Place stood to applaud their entry in a ceremony that became an often jarring mixture of celebration and grief.

The leader of a rebellious Black Sea region resigned early today in the face of sweeping protests against his rule, giving Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili an important victory in his attempt to consolidate his fractured country.

Within minutes, so much was known about the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili at the Winter Olympics. The same, sadly, could not be said about his short life. Pictures and video from the crash in training at the Whistler track on Friday morning that killed the young luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia were instantly multiplying and dominating the Internet throughout the day. Hours later, reporters still were trying to find out the most basic biographical information about the 21-year-old who had points in five World Cup races this season, tied for 44th in the standings.

Russia's invasion of neighboring Georgia has raised doubts about the security of oil and gas pipelines that cross through the former Soviet republic and the wisdom of further investment in the transport lines. The foray also put an emphatic stamp on Russia's growing influence over the region's natural resources and, by proxy, over Europe.

Within minutes, so much was known about the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili at the Winter Olympics. The same, sadly, could not be said about his short life. Pictures and video from the crash in training at the Whistler track on Friday morning that killed the young luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia were instantly multiplying and dominating the Internet throughout the day. Hours later, reporters still were trying to find out the most basic biographical information about the 21-year-old who had points in five World Cup races this season, tied for 44th in the standings.

On the surface, the forces of European diplomacy responded vigorously Tuesday to the challenge presented by the eruption of conflict in the Caucasus. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants to reassert French and European influence while holding the presidency of the European Union, zoomed off to Moscow and Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on the heels of a war-zone trip by his equally energetic foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a U.S.-trained attorney regarded by Washington as a pro-democracy wunderkind, has made a political career of brinkmanship with neighboring Russia. This time, he may have overplayed his hand. Saakashvili helped oust former Soviet Foreign Minister and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in the so-called Rose Revolution in 2003 and became Europe's youngest president the following January at the age of 36.

When Khatuna Lorig begins to train for the 2012 Olympics in London, she hopes to be training side by side with her husband, fellow archer Archil Onashvili. That would beat every training experience she's had. It would be better than when she was pregnant leading up to and during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, surpass training by candlelight in 1996, and beat practicing while she was a single mother in 2004.

Nearly six weeks after Russia sent troops into neighboring Georgia, the Bush administration remains deeply divided over whether to retaliate against it -- and some officials fear the internal conflict is already undermining strategically important national security collaborations.

Just hours before the caldron was lighted to mark the start of these Winter Olympics, a young athlete's life was snuffed out in a horrific crash on the world's fastest luge track. On a morning training run under the first blue sky in days, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, of the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled at about 80 mph as he came out of the final curve -- nicknamed Thunderbird -- and approached the finish line. He catapulted over the outer lip of the track and slammed into an unpadded roof support post.

A team of international monitors is ending its 16-year mission in Georgia after Russia refused to allow an extension of the assignment in a dispute over two breakaway Georgian provinces. The mission by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expires Dec. 31, and OSCE chair Finland called a meeting to seek a three-month extension. But talks collapsed when Russia, a member of the group, demanded that the body join Moscow in recognizing the statehood of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Shots were fired Sunday as a motorcade carrying the presidents of Georgia and Poland approached a checkpoint near the breakaway province of South Ossetia, Georgian officials said. No one was hurt, and details of the incident were disputed even among Georgian officials. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the shots were fired as the motorcade approached a Russian military checkpoint near the town of Akhalgori in South Ossetia.

Thousands of flag-waving demonstrators stopped Tbilisi traffic Friday in the first major protest against President Mikheil Saakashvili since Georgia's war with Russia. The United Opposition coalition brought more than 10,000 protesters onto the streets of the capital, one year after riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse peaceful demonstrators calling for Saakashvili's ouster.

Russian troops on Sunday began dismantling positions in the so-called security zones in Georgia that they have occupied since the war in August, Georgian and EU officials said. Moscow faces a Friday deadline for pulling back its troops under a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union. Hundreds of EU observers began monitoring Russia's compliance last week.

Nearly six weeks after Russia sent troops into neighboring Georgia, the Bush administration remains deeply divided over whether to retaliate against it -- and some officials fear the internal conflict is already undermining strategically important national security collaborations.

He was jeered in his own country as he ignominiously resigned from office Sunday, portrayed as an aging politician who got stuck in the same swamp of corruption, ethnic conflict and poverty that has beset so many of the former Soviet republics. But barely a decade earlier, Georgian President Eduard A. Shevardnadze had taken on formidable foes to help open the door for the Soviet Union's historic rapprochement with the West.

BEIJING -- Tanks roll and headlines blare. A newspaper photo shows a Russian soldier running past a dead Georgian counterpart. The Olympics rock and headlines celebrate. A newspaper photo shows a Georgian beach volleyball player spiking over a Russian. It is fascinating how seldom these twain shall meet. And when they do, how effectively they are minimized. It ought to be the Olympic motto. Citius, Altius, No Politicius.

Randy Scheunemann operated for years deep inside Republican foreign policy circles, a burly, bearded lobbyist with powerful patrons, neoconservative credentials and little public profile. Today, as John McCain's top foreign policy and national security advisor, Scheunemann serves as spokesman and surrogate for the probable GOP presidential nominee on issues from NATO enlargement to gun control in American cities. Scheunemann's dual roles came into sharp relief, and potential conflict, last week when McCain voiced impassioned support for Georgia after Russia's incursion into the Caucasus nation Aug. 8. Georgia, as it happened, is one of Scheunemann's former lobbying clients.

They squat in abandoned buildings, crash in rickety schoolhouses or sleep under bushes and trees. They stumble into the city wooden-faced and traumatized, children in tow, with little or nothing but the clothes they were wearing when they fled their houses. Tens of thousands of Georgians have been forced from their homes by days of fighting and Russian occupation, leaving this small country suddenly swamped in a major humanitarian crisis.