Capt Charles:
Excellent summation, and I like your recommendation. It seems, though, that Americans fighting Russians directly is a threshold which once crossed makes many very scary scenarios (seem) much more likely.
A successful Russian operation (in their view) in Georgia increases Russian influence elsewhere in their “sphere of influence.” They also get to screw more with the touchy worldwide oil-supply situation, and stir up other things you would likely find if you turned over a rotten log.