It’s not Iraq or Afghanistan, but the dangerous political-military conflict in the Caucuses that may also become one of the major themes of the upcoming Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s 13th district, where Allyson Schwartz is running for her third term against Marina Katz, a lawyer from Abington. This district includes northern Philadelphia County and Montgomery County, home to nearly 40,000 immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet Union. Both candidates are in some way connected to this region, where Russia and Georgia have been engaged in a military confrontation for the past few weeks.

Marina Katz presents herself as the first Congressional candidate born in Ukraine and the first immigrant from the former USSR to run for the House of Representatives (she immigrated to the United States from the USSR in 1979).

Two years ago, Allyson Schwartz and Republican Bill Shuster, who represents central Pennsylvania, founded the House Georgia Caucus after a trip to the former Soviet Republics of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. Rep. Schwartz introduced a resolution calling on Russia to respect the sovereignty of Georgia. Last week, she introduced another resolution calling upon the International Olympic Committee to move the 2014 Winter Olympic Games from the Russian city of Sochi, which is near the border with Georgia, to another venue. “Russia has invaded a sovereign state,” Rep. Schwartz announced. “We must make it clear that this is unacceptable to us.”

Marina Katz, however, is against taking the Olympics away from Russia. “We did the same thing in 1980 and what did we achieve?” she asked, referring to the boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the war in Afghanistan.

Both candidates give their full support to Georgia, but express concern about the possibility of a wider conflict. “This must be concluded as soon as possible,” said Katz. “I truly hope that the conflict does not escalate,” echoed her opponent Schwartz. “I hope that Russia will observe the ceasefire agreement and withdraw its troops from Georgia.”

Last week, Schwartz’s aides held a briefing with Georgia’s ambassador to the United States. Also, she and other members of the Georgia Caucus sent a letter to members of Congress calling on them to invite Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili to a joint session of Congress as a show of support.

Marina Katz believes that the United States must “take all possible diplomatic measures to resolve the conflict,” but she warned that any negotiations or actions must be carefully considered. “We must not rouse the Russian bear,” she said. “We must be very careful about our involvement in this conflict.”