This is Prussia confronted by France in the Napoleonic Wars. We must all read our Clausewitz very closely now. A defensive war of survival by a nation-state with an aroused populace, an army-in-being, and sympathetic neighbors who can provide sanctuary is among the most dangerous of wars. The greatest enemy of the Russians right now is time. They need this to end in the short or medium term, but cannot let it drag on into the long term, or the Georgian protracted war of attrition that will result will wear the Russians down into the most bitter and dark of wars. It will not escalate overtly, but it will covertly and sharply, if that comes to pass.

To be sure, the Georgians need this to be over in the short term too if their nation is to survive with the least amount of damage. But if the Russians are not going to have it be over shortly, then the Georgians have to gear up for a long, dirty drawn out war that will cost everyone a lot in blood and gold.