IMHO before you get too deep in the supposed action, motivations, politics and blame laying it is usually helpful to get some basic background. A simple map, a rundown of Georgia's relative size, location in relation to other nations, population, demographics and resources:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gg.htmlBelieve it or not the CIA database on such things is pretty much both neutral and informative. A good start. Notice that Georgia is "slightly smaller than South Carolina" and average income is $4,700 (2007 est.). That ought to put things in perspective.
Once you have a framework a quick read of a couple of papers dealing with the politics and implications for the US might round out the background nicely.
One from a political perspective:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33453.pdfAnd one from a security perspective:
http://ftp.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL30679.pdfNeither are too difficult or long. There is some overlap but each adds something.
Once you have digested the background information the news makes a lot more sense. Understanding the background also prevents you falling for many of the more extreme claims and predictions.
Beware of Drudge. He made his name breaking a couple of important stories and maintaining a fairly tight journalistic standard. But once established his standards got left behind and he became the go-to guy for rumors. Many of which have been, are, floated for political reasons.
The Drudge Report is pretty close to tabloid level journalism. He doesn't question sources harshly or do much fact checking. His output is often less about actual news than rumors of news and news about rumors. When he gets caught reporting one way and it turns out the other you can expect that the story will just be quietly dropped. There aren't many corrections, apologies or attempts at self-correction. Like the National Enquirer the focus is on the extreme and outrageous because this draws people in and maintains the hit count. He caters to voyeurism and morbid curiosity, the tendency of people to stare at car wrecks.
