Why is Russia at war with Georgia?

These are all excellent answers.  The conflict goes much farther back in time, however.  Georgia became a sort of vassal state to Russia in the 18th Century, partly for protection against the Ottoman Empire and partly because they could not protect themselves against the Russians anyway.  Ethnic and nationalist tensions between Georgia and Russia have surfaced continuously ever since.  Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan united as the Transcaucasion Federation in 1917, Georgia becoming independant the following year.  In 1922 they were forcibly annexed by the USSR.

The disturbing thing about the current unrest to me is the excuse used by Putin to explain the invasion of South Ossetia and Abkhazistan, that of the Russian national duty to "protect" Russians living in these areas.  The Abkhazi are not Russian, neither are the Ossetians, and neither ethnic group has expressed any interest in being part of Russia again.  The North Ossetians, living in Russia, want to seperate from the larger country and unite with the South Ossetians as an independant nation.

The excuse of protecting Russians living in neighboring countries is the same excuse Hitler gave for annexing Czechoslovakia and invading Poland, to "protect" Germans living in a country he wanted.

What comic elements does the play Hamlet contain? What scenes, what characters what exchanges of dialogue?

The most obvious comic scene in Hamlet occurs in Act 5, sc. 1 with the gravediggers (often identified as the "clowns").  The exchange between the two men digging Ophelia's grave is very funny.  The two exchange riddles and the first gravedigger continues to exchange riddles, as well as word-play, when Hamlet and Horatio come upon them.  Then Hamlet asks whose grave it is that the gravedigger is digging.  The gravedigger responds that since he's digging the grave, it's his.  Hamlet asks is it for a man or a woman, the gravedigger says it's for neither since the one who will lie in it is dead.  And on it goes.  There is some humor in Act 2, sc. 2 when Hamlet and Polonius exchange words because Hamlet is making fun of Polonius only he doesn't seem to realize it.  Also, the exchange between Hamlet and Osric in Act 5, sc. 2, when Osric delivers to Hamlet the challenge to the fencing match from Laertes is humorous because Osric is so fawning and pretentious that Hamlet makes fun of him.

What can you infer from the name "Infant Nurseries' Neo- Pavlovian Conditioning Room"?

Ivan Pavlov did experiments in psychology.  He was part of a group called "Behaviorists" who believe that behavior is just about stimulus and response.  He did work with dogs where he "taught" them to salivate by getting them to associate the ringing of a bell to getting fed. He rang the bell before feeding them so often that they began to salivate just at the bell.  He'd taught their bodies to react in a particular way.

The children in this "nursery" are being trained the same way. The government is training them to like or dislike certain conditions, not based on what they truly want or need or enjoy, but based on how the government wants them to react.

There's also a really nasty implication here because the infants are being trained like dogs, implying that have no more value than a dog.  Of course, humans are devalued across the board, the one more case of devaluing human life is not particularly surprising.

Explain the significance of Jim kissing Laura in scene 7 of The Glass Menagerie.

Jim 'the gentleman caller' arrives at the Wingfield apartment in Sc.6.  Laura very reluctantly  and awkwardly after much prodding from her mother goes to the door and lets him in and immediately busies herself with the record player.  Tom defends her saying that she is extremely shy, to which Jim replies: "It's unusual to meet a shy girl nowadays."

The events just prior to and after  Jim spontaneously kissing Laura are significant because they highlight the marked change that has taken place in Laura's personality. From being a shy, nervous and timid girl who found it impossible to go  to the door to let her schoodays infatuation into her house in Sc.6, she at the end of the play after Jim's kiss in Sc.7 has become bold enough to present the broken unicorn(the most treasured piece in her 'glass menagerie') as a souvenir to Jim who has just then disappointed her by saying that he is engaged to another girl. Till then, Laura had been entirely dependent on these glass dolls as a relief from her anxiety attacks. The breaking of the glass unicorn and Jim's kiss clearly emphasize Laura's freedom from depending on her collection of glass dolls as a source of relief from her attacks of nervousness.

The kiss and what follows is the Epiphany which reveals that Laura has been cured of her inferiority complex and will be able to stand on her own 'two' feet and face life boldly without anyone's help.

How are the themes of Lyddie and Bridge to Terabithia the same and different?What role does setting play in each novel? How are the novels similar...

Lyddie and Bridge to Terabithia share many common themes, as do most of Katherine Patterson's books.  Both are coming of age novels, where the protagonists must overcome obstacles both outside themselves and within their own characters in achieving maturity.  For Lyddie, it is stubborn pride that she must reconcile.  Fiercely independent, she faces responsibilities far beyond what she should have to deal with at her age, keeping her family together and fed when her father leaves and her mother sinks towards madness, yet she makes her situation even more difficult than it needs to be by refusing the help of those, like Mr. Stevens, who would come to her aid.  For Jesse, the protagonist in Bridge to Terabithia, it is his tendency to be afraid that her must come to terms with.  Through his friendship with Leslie, and her unconditional acceptance of him, he develops self-confidence and learns to work around his tendency to be reticent.

Family is another theme common to both books.  Both Lyddie and Jess explicitly express their devotion to family through their treatment of their little sisters.  Lyddie takes responsibility for her sister Rachel after her mother's death, and Jess resolves to nurture his sister Maybelle after Leslie is killed in the river.

A third common theme to the two books is the importance of books.  Lyddie, who is barely literate, derives comfort and strength from nightly readings of Oliver Twist as rendered by her friend Betsy, and Jess finds a refuge in the imaginary world based on The Chronicles of Narnia created by Leslie.

Setting plays an important part in both stories.  Both Lyddie and Jess live in rural environments in the eastern United Stattes, and both are profoundly affected by the times in which they live.  Lyddie must deal with the restrictions placed upon women in the mid-1800s, and she experiences firsthand the horrific conditions women faced as part of the workforce in a newly industrial society.  Jess, who lives in the turbulent 1960s, must reconcile the changing value systems presented by the hippie culture as represented by his music teacher and the Burke family as it clashes with the Christian but materialistic culture of his own family.

Both novels are narrated by the main characters, Lyddie and Jess, in a straightforward, honest style.  Through the telling of their stories, the reader is given a sense of both the details of the narration, and the inner thoughts, impressions, and feelings of the protagonists.

What did Father Gilligan find on waking up?

Father Gilligan finds that he has slept through the night
and failed in his duty to one of his flock that had sent for him the night before. 
Here's paragraphs six and seven from "The Ballad of Father Gilligan," by
Yeats:

Upon the time of sparrow-chirp
When the
moths came once more.
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Stood upright on
the floor.

‘Mavrone, mavrone! the man has died
While I slept
on the chair’;
He roused his horse out of its sleep,
And rode with
little care.

The moths in Ireland come again in the
morning, and the sparrows chirp.  Father Gilligan wakes up, startled that he has slept
through the night, and jumps up.  He yells that he has missed the man's death, prepares
his horse, and rides as fast as he can to the home of the man that sent for him the
previous night, before he fell asleep while praying. 

Of
course, the Father arrives at the house, and discovers that God, in his mercy, has sent
an angel in his place to administer the Last Rites to the dying
man. 

What did Father Gilligan find on waking up?

Father Gilligan finds that he has slept through the night and failed in his duty to one of his flock that had sent for him the night before.  Here's paragraphs six and seven from "The Ballad of Father Gilligan," by Yeats:

Upon the time of sparrow-chirp
When the moths came once more.
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Stood upright on the floor.

‘Mavrone, mavrone! the man has died
While I slept on the chair’;
He roused his horse out of its sleep,
And rode with little care.

The moths in Ireland come again in the morning, and the sparrows chirp.  Father Gilligan wakes up, startled that he has slept through the night, and jumps up.  He yells that he has missed the man's death, prepares his horse, and rides as fast as he can to the home of the man that sent for him the previous night, before he fell asleep while praying. 

Of course, the Father arrives at the house, and discovers that God, in his mercy, has sent an angel in his place to administer the Last Rites to the dying man.