Too Small To Be A Nation by Travis Wentworth FROM Newsweek

"Russia's support for tiny South Ossetia's independence raises a befuddling legal question: can a state be too marginal to be recognized? If granted autonomy, South Ossetia would rank as the world's 11th smallest state by population (72,000) and the 30th by landmass (3,900 square kilometers). Its GDP is negligible, but probably larger than widely recognized nations like Nauru. In any event, smallness itself is not the hurdle."