The United States cannot allow this aggression to continue unchecked. But Georgia should not have allowed itself to get sucked into a battle with rebels while a battalion of Russian “Peace keepers” were present in Ossetia. It is the kind of bone head move that gave Russia the option of intervention in the first place. Having determined to play the role of regional influencer NATO needs to assert itself on the side of Georgia with the offer of free and secure transport out of Ossetia for any Russian passport holding person. It is humanitarian and it removes the balkanizing excuse Putin is using. Former Ambassador Holbrook is crowing I told you so, loudly. but makes no connection between the moves in Kosovo to the occurrences in Ossetia. The challenge to Putin must be to prove his case before the UN, to prove the charge of ethnic cleansing before the world or remove his forces from Georgia. Or what?

NATO is the issue, not willing to fight not willing to even enforce the rule of law within their own individual countries the European States have signaled a willingness to agree to anything as long as they are threatened with the potential for violence. They would give away Denmark, they would give up liberty, they will sell Afghanistan and Iraq down the river again in hopes of appeasing a weak enemy (Al Qaeda) So Russia figures it can get a lot more than a little lawlessness with a real show of force.

Perhaps we need to include the Russian Peace Keepers within a NATO Peace Keeping force.