The Alans are now the Ossetians that do not want to be part of Georgia.

Alan

Does "Ossetia" mean "fromBigEasy" in some Eastern European language? ;-)

whose payroll are they on now? Not the Romans', it would seem.

Putin's

OK, smart ass, following your "logic" the Kosovo Albanians are on NATO's payroll. NATO even held joint military exercises with the KLA in northern Albania before the 1999 attack on Serbia. So much for all of your "humanitarianism" and professed belief in the "freedom of choice" and "democracy".