You are right. If too many Russain soldiers get killed in this war there will be an outcry in Russia. The people suffered enough in Afganistan not so many years ago. I don't think they will put up with the deaths of too many of their boys. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but it will take time. Kick Russia out of the G8 and other prestigious international forums. Reroute the oil pipeline out of South Ossetia and into Georgia proper. Arm to the teeth other small countries that used to be part of the USSR. Let them all join NATO. Give lots of financial aid to Georgia. All of this can be done without firing a shop.

and I'm sure some military advisors. However, the U.S. was slow to respond. Russia could have taken the Georgian Capital 4 days ago. I'm sorry to say but the U.S. State Department was caught off guard. this is going to put the international arena in "play".Meaning countries that were afraid to be aggressive will be les deterred. While U.S. allies are going to think twice about sticking out their necks for the U.S. I hope I'm wrong but Russia just blew a gapping hole in America's foreign policy of deterrence.

You know what I like in all these talk-backs? That even when all news makers admitted that it was Georgian who started that war and it's mainly fault of that crazy Saakashvili, still everyone says that Russians are bad. It seems to me you all jealous, cause Russia has moral strength to response. All western media showed only one point of view - Georgian one. 19 shot jets? Russian military says only 4. Saakashvili "will stand still till last drop of the blood to protect Tbilisi" from Russian tank approaching to Georgian capital? - Russian tanks were going to military base, not further. And that is nice example of your "CNN news way" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNblG9PJMk Is Russia over reacted - sure it did. But unfortunately it's the way how should Russia response, to make everything clear. Not only to protect our peacekeepers (without any "quote") and our citizens, but also to give a notice to the World not to mess with Russia. About the Iran, interesting that is only Iranian who say they are going to by S-300 air defense system, and Russian officials denies it. Don't get me wrong, I do feel pity for all victims from both sides, and Georgian always were big friends with Russian. I don't want it all be ruined just because of Saakashvili's ambitions. Sorry for my bad English.

We are not in war with Russia! G forbid, we are in war with the arabs, and my idea was that we must act against them as Russia acted against the US, EU and Georgia

because they just see, what happen with them, when arab deside for "sequel" of 6-day war - many nice word from White House...

We can use the blankets to bury our dead, and the Hershey chocolate will be good comfort food as we have to face our destroyed lives and communities. Thanks America, see you around.

Fighting is not an option! Indeed, Russia has won again and the US and the EU are just full of blah, blah and more blah! Of course, not one wants a war but Russia must be stopped in its tracks or we will return to the cold war. The problem is money and American investment in Russia is huge, as it is in China, and the Bush Administration puts that first even if it means hurting their allies. As for the EU and the UK, well, don't hold your breath.

Actually, the last I heard was that the US is sending an "humanitarian" force. Isn't the the Coca Cola and Ice cream brigade? Now, if Georgia had lots of oil, well that would be a different kettle of Gefilte Fish! The US has returned to the embarrassing days of Jimmy Carter. They kowtow to the Arabs, the Chinese and now the Russians. You can have the most powerful military in the world but when the leadership has no balls it is a waste of time!

See my post #25 .. You don't seem to get it, Russia doesn't need America but America needs Russia. To help with Iran for starters. This is not the '60s and America is on the ropes militarily and economically. Did you think that America would always be "top gun"? The British had the biggest empire before the American one and the Romans had the longest one. The Turks and others did well too. The US empire was economic and the Chinese will soon rule that one. I'm sorry that I don't give my facts sugar coated but sometimes a stiff dose of something that tastes bad wakes people up. Mike

Nobody with half a brain would have expected the US to intervene militarily when Russia invaded Georgia especially after Georgians killed around 2000 people in their houses by running tanks over them. Apart from a nuclear war the US is militarily spent and can hardly continue the war in Iraq. The Ukraine believes that it is the next on the list because it wants (or wanted) to join NATO and Russia wants one of its seaports back. America needs Russia to help it against the Iranian threat and Russia doesn't need America for anything. America's influence is going down to ground zero and it's almost bankrupt whereas Russia has more money than it knows what to do with. "things will work out better" - for who? Hopefully you spend more time on UK news groups than here because England will go down the toilet if action is not taken soon. I'm Anglo/American but live in Tel Aviv. Mike

US was defeated but not because Cold War is over but because it never ended; Yeltsin's window dressing to get Russia into Western economic institutions was always belied for its continued support for Iran and Syria and its nuclear missile building and statements by Yeltsin and Kosyrev that Russia was still the motor of the socialist camp and the near abroad would return. Putin simply has been removing the mask of the 1990s after the US eased restrictions on technology.

It seems the alternative media has reported that there were 8 – 9000 US soldiers including marines, and Special Forces along with 1000 Israeli Special Forces that were commanding the Georgian military. Also it was reported that there were some African American soldiers killed wearing black uniforms with the U.S. flag embroidered on them which indicates they were possibly American mercenaries. They have also reported that the conflict was initiated by Georgia by their repeated shelling of south Ossetia early Friday morning, and by attacking several peace keepers’ bases there as well. It is also reported that the Georgians are using Israeli weaponry! Don't Believe everything the corporate controlled media tells you Steve Wilson! We initiated this debacle and to further risk our involvement by putting more troops over there is to insane for even this criminal U.S. government!

If you really think the US needs Russia's help on Iran, you are deluding yourself. Russia is part of the problem. All we've gotten from them is a stall. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a negotiated settlement.

Russia is not Iraq, they can't be pushed around, threatened or bullied. This administration in its brazen attempts to change things, straddles between bold & naive. Rice may be an expert in the field of Russia, but only from an academia stand point. I wonder what Bush sees inside Putin's soul today?

doing much more of the same when the USA kick their beenies back into their ghetto. What's funny is no one wants Russia. It's to screwed up to want to invade it.

Why does the US need anyone's help in dealing with Iran? Even Ahmandinejad is willing to restore relations with the US. What is finished is our one-sided support for Israel.

re: #17 Naive? do you think Condoleeza Rice is in control of anything?! That's "naive". Sure we have to fight our own wars. But I'd like to see any country "fight their own war" against Russia. That's a pitiful and naive comment in itself. States increasingly rely on each other for protection. If Georgia needs help in keeping Russia out, then by all means, ask the Americans - let the Georgians deal with the consequences later. Like I said in my previous comment: the US will get something in exchange for the "aid" - whatever it may be. The EU is not reliable - at all - Sarkozy negotiated this deal with Russia like a rank amateur, leaving the very basics of EVERYTHING in the empty: no timeline for Russian withdrawal? security zones? what the heck? No-one is argueing who's right or wrong, just who is playing the better hand here. re: #40 Who the heck said "military intervention"... ?! I'm trying not to be rude here, but you really need to rethink what you're saying, especially you redmike. The US is doing what the USSR did in the 60s: backing regimes and intervening where foreign policy dictates - the difference being that the US has the economic power to do this. You're right on one thing, I should elaborate: on the "better for who" I mean a negotiated solution (as opposed to war), hard as it may be, but that's how Russia does their own negotiating. Russia depends on the US for investment and loans. imho, pull that privilege and Russia will be forced to stand down. That's how I see things, but on the off-chance Russia doesn't step back, things will escalate to Russian isolation. You can trust the USofA (and Bush) to behave in a certain manner, you can trust the Russian Federation to respond in kind. There is no guessing game going on here. The US does what it considers necessary to reach a certain objective. ie: In Iraq that's war. In NK it's negotiation (and a great deal of patience), in the Russia/Georgia deal... well, that's up to Bush... not Rice. If Russia thinks that blackmailing the USA on other security council matters is the way to go, well...good luck. The USA can be just as stubborn... btw: I do think Georgia did wrong in assaulting South Ossetia, but if someone were to leak the plan and the reasons why that happened, maybe they could make things understood beyond the realm of "asserting Georgian authority over South Ossetia". As you can see, I am merely analysing the matter and have no particular interest in it. You on the other hand seem far too "passionate" about it, that you're just overlooking facts for your own argument's sake. best of luck to all of you, especially to anyone who's actually caught in this whole mess.

So concentrated on Bush-bashing that he doesn't have a shred of credibility in my opinion. The fact that you obviously HATE him does not make him stupid, it shows your own ignorance. Explain how he can be President of the US for eight years, and he doesn't understand foreign policy, if he was competent enough to get elected in the first place? How does that work? That's like saying he's smart enough to pilot an aircraft, but after eight years still can't buckle the seat belt. It is your own stupidity, in your own eyes, that you see in others. This is not an objective article, just another example of a delusional writer bending reality to fit his personal ignorance. You hate GWB, and will use any event in the world today to demonstrate that he is stupid. He is stupid simply because you hate him? I'm not an American republican conservative whatever, just pointing out an obviously-non-objective editorial.

Bush is Israel's only friend and this is how you treat him. Do really think Russia cn do anything to us? We could push a button and make them history. Russia is reversing course and heading back to communism, which was their darkest years. I hope we become an isolationist country again and let all you ungrateful people deal with your own problems!

With the repeated defeat of the US/Israeli interests in Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, Lebanon, (and soon) Iran. It is time for Israel to rethink its strategy for survival in a world that hates it (even in Europe and America, just below the surface). Israel needs to hitch its wagon to Iran. It is the simple and obvious solution. Iran's Jewish population is over 3000 years old. For those not mathematically desposed 3000 years is much much longer than 60 years. Get my drift? Yes, Israel needs to ask Iran for its pocketmoney and not that loser America! Of course one has to have a back-up plan. If Iran balks at the prospect then Hamas, the Palestinian authority, Hezbollah and Syria should be approached. They all have checking accounts!

Your article is spot on. Condo however is no expert on Russia. Anyone comparing unvasion of Georgia with invasion of Czechoslovakia in 68 is a fool. Czechoslovakia did not invade Ukraine...Georgia's invasion I am sure was known and possibly approved by the White House, and if not the White House should have known about it and stop it before it started. That they didn't or couln't demonstrates American's naivity and lack of understanding of foreign policy and the "new world order". (Unfortunately the Democrats are no better)

I hate to break it to you but...Russia can also press a Button and make U.S.A history,or did you think that United States is only country with nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them.? Israel never betrayed Bush ,if anything the opposite is the case.We do not have to be ' Grateful' to you or anybody else for that matter .Nobody does us any favours .By the way ,countries do not have Friends only interests ,U.S included.Please educate yourself further.

and the United States has had its day.Now time for some fresh faces ,like China or Russia to show their dominance .

continue to build nuclear bombs. Your post is simply anti-Israel and has nothing to do with the article or what I wrote. I don't know if you won't or can't understand what is going on but if it's the former then you have a chance but if it's the latter then 'ignorance is bliss'. Mike

you're somehow seeing things backwards or not at all. If Russia were helping the US block Iran then the US would not be desperate for its help. It is because Russia is blocking further sanctions that the US needs Russia's help. Hopefully that's clear enough. By the way, Russia doesn't want a nuclear Iran on its doorstep and has held Iran back in many ways over the last several years by not supplying fuel for example. It has delayed Iran without appearing to which is pretty smart. Mike

Georgia/Gruzia and the USA will be victorious. Corrupted Putin are evil losers. But losers, at the end. The other question, can the people of Gruzia overcome their bad criminal past, no corruption, no thefts, no murders....

""One needs to be an eternal optimist in order to think that now, with the US weakness exposed, Poland and the Czech Republic would agree to deploy American missiles on their soil." Poland just signed the deal. It's on the front page of BBC....

In taking Kosovo from Serbia, which had been the heart of the Serb nation since 1389, the USA, UK, Australia and their allies brought this fiasco about. What did they think would happen? Kosovo was where the Serbs fought the Turks for centuries, defending the rest of Europe. After WWII, the Muslim Albanians led by the Islamofascist KLA undertook massive illegal immigration to populate Kosovo, becoming a majority and then launching provocative attacks against Serbs. And the USA under Bill Clinton, simply because Bill and Hillary Clinton were on the outs over Monica Lewinsky and they found a convenient target in Kosovo-- they bombed the crap out of Serbia in the wake of allegations of "atrocities" that turned out to be fabricated (both sides were hitting each other), killing 2,000 Serb civilians, to take control of Kosovo, against international law and against the justifiable protests of Russia. Then George W. Bush and Condi Rice compounded the error by recognizing Kosovo as independent-- again, against international law and UN Resolutions, and against the vast majority of the international community, including most democracies, which have not recognized Kosovo and never will. And Kosovo is a Muslim narcostate, totally dependent on subsidies, that specializes in drug-running, human trafficking and weapons smuggling. What in the world were Clinton, Bush, Albright, Rice, Holbrooke and the others thinking?' Oh, that's right, they weren't thinking-- they were slaves of politically correct ideology, with no sense of history and no sense of fine diplomacy. The Clintons and the Bushes have utterly destroyed the United States of America as a great power, and the USA will never rise again. Israel and Jews the world over, please take note: The USA, UK and Australia are not your friends and will very soon become your enemies. They have all been mismanaged by foolish leaders, especially the USA, and now true to form, anti-Semitism is bubbling to the surface as Jews are blamed for the incompetence of their leaders. Israel must be self-sufficient!

Anyone who think that Russia or even China are in the same league as that of the United States are deeply mistaken. I guess you guys forgot that the United States spends more money on its military than the whole world combined! And thats not some made up stat. When the United States is in trouble, the whole world is in trouble. And to even think for a second that Russia would even dare to threaten the United States is laughable. Russia is not a powerful country anymore, their population is decreasing every year and once their stranglehold over the energy market is over (I'll give it 30 more years) then the Russians will be no more of a threat than the Canadians.