Om en først skal “omdefinere” hva en verdenskrig er på den måten så kan en like gjerne begynne våren 1999 da NATO ifm sitt 50-årsjubileum vedtok sin nye “out of area” strategi underveis i den 78 dager lange bombingen av Serbia. Eller kanskje enda bedre, i 1989, dagen etter at “den kalde krigen” var over. Muren gjennom Berlin ble revet den 9. november 1989. Sør-osseterne forsøkte allerede 10. november å bli anerkjent som autonom republikk. Og det var ihvertfall ikke noe mindre grunn til at de skulle få en mer selvstendig status enn feks Kosovo. Det som skjedde i Sør-Ossetia dagen etter “murens fall” viser nettopp hvordan striden om hvor grensene skulle gå og status og rettigheter i disse områdene var i gang allerede før Sovjetunionen brøt sammen og at dette langt ifra er noe som begynte i 2008.
In the late 1980s, Ossetian nationalistic organization, Adamon Nikhas (Voice of the People) was created.[4] On 10 November 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet asked the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic for the status of the region to be upgraded to that of autonomous republic. However this application was rejected on 16 November and the Georgians besieged Tskhinvali on 23 November 1989.[5] South Ossetia declared about its state sovereignty on 20 September 1990. In October 1990, the Georgian parliamentary elections were boycotted by South Ossetia, which held elections to its own parliament in December of the same year.[4] On 11 December 1990, the Georgian Parliament passed a bill that effectively abolished South Ossetia’s autonomous status.[5] Russia intervened and a state of emergency was declared in South Ossetia.[6] On 4 May 1991, the South Ossetian Parliament declared its intention to separate from Georgia and to unite with North Ossetia, which was located within the borders of the Russian Federation. Georgian–Ossetian conflict - Wikipedia