Looks to me that Putin eschews overruning Georgia in favor of strangling it. Maybe to capture some income-producing assets intact or maybe just to gratify his nasty bone. Those whose way of warfare is for the purpose of subjugation always like to make their targets squirm before shipping them off to whatever gulag they have in mind.

Fred is absolutely right about the need for missle defense. Were it not for the ability to launch missles at the USA itself (and friendly nations as well) without fear of intercept, crap like this would be easy to handle. We could make mincemeat out of invading forces and that would be All She Wrote. As it is, we have to proceed more
circumspectly.

And it goes without saying that our Manchurian Candidate wishes to perpetuate our vulnerability at the behest of those who would harm us.