Georgia is part of Russia’s ‘near abroad,’ and 80% of South Ossetia’s population has Russian citizenship. On behalf of all those S.O. Russians, Putin has been telling Georgia, for years!, to ‘behave’ in its domestic relations with the autonomous, break-away, overwhemingly Russian-majority region.

Instead, Georgia strikes into South Ossetia in order to assert its sovereignty, a direct slap at the bear. Are the Georgians mad, or merely suicidal?

There is NO way the US is going to support Georgia against Russia, beyond some jaw-boning, because our relationship with Russia is far too important to jeapordize. Just beyond Georgia lies Iran, and without Russia’s at least passive support there is virtually nothing we can do about Iran.

Georgia has grossly miscalculated U.S. strategic interests; Russian tanks are about to teach them the lesson.