'The West needs Russian help over the Middle East issues like Iran and Afghanistan and it is not likely to throw away its economic relationship with Russia,' believes Seumas Milne, associate editor of British newspaper 'The Guardian'.

The U.S. administration wants to create a new Cold War tension between Russia and its western friends, believes geopolitical expert William Engdahl, who spoke to RT about developments in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict.

The support that the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation expressed towards Russia's peacekeeping mission in South Ossetia is extremely important, according to Natalya Zaderey, a researcher from the Centre of Far East Studies.

The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are holding a summit in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe. Aleksandr Lukin, head of the Centre of Eastern Asia Studies, joined RT political commentator Peter Lavelle to analyse the summit.

Political strategist and former presidential speech-writer for George W. Bush Joshua Trevino considers the U.S. presidential candidates' views on Abkhazia and South Ossetia.