I disagree with the assertion that Russia is climbing through an open window left by Iraq for two reasons: first, a direct confrontation between US and Russian troops is to all practical purposes ruled out. Second, in the unlikely event that US forces were used to aid Georgia they would be air and naval forces above all. Those forces are not engaged in Iraq. Actually, they’ve been liberated from their former tasks of maintaining a naval blockade on the Saddam and enforcing a no-fly zone. Lastly, look at the map and measure the distance between the Iraqi air bases the US now has through Turkey to Georgia. There’s a direct air corridor now between the Gulf straight through Turkey that wasn’t there before, when old Saddam was in power.

But that’s beside the point, because direct confrontations are ruled out under Cold War Rule Number One. Cold War Rule Number Two says that proxy warfare is OK. Therefore the only options open to the US in Georgia are to help them with political support, information warfare, intel and materiel. This was exactly what the US did for the Afghans when Russia invaded them and didn’t work out so badly.

The Russians, unlike the US, are unlikely to conquer the Georgians (if they decide to do it) and then let them elect their own government. They will have to garrison it, occupy it and suppress it. Does Putin really want to do this? Maybe he’s counting on the fact that there isn’t a Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher in view. At best we have John McCain, but it’s better than even odds we’ll have Barack Obama, who only the other day was addressing a crowd in Berlin saying all you had to do was reach out.

So the first order of business is for the West to make up its mind about whether or not it is willing to stand up to Putin. All else follows.