A tiny enclave on the Black Sea, it stands today in the wreckage left by the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict of 1992–1993 and is subject to an economic blockade; a direct result of the most recent conflict in August 2008. In its present state it exists in limbo, there is no visible reconstruction, and niether are there outward signs that Abkhazia either approves or disapproves of its most recent patron and annexer — Moscow. The juxtaposition of wartime rubble with its almost indefineably light holiday air, causes its infrequent visitors to describe Abkhazia as a dream. But if it is dream, it's the dream of others. Fought over since the 9th century BC, Abkhazia has fallen to the Byzantine Empire, Grecian trading ambitions, the Roman Empire, an Arab incursion of the Ottoman Empire, and the communist rule of the Soviet Union. For now Abkhazia is between defacto independance and economic annexation. It has all the necessary ingredients to prosper and yet it remains undefinable.
