Wretchard said “It’s no longer about what Russia has done in a small Caucasian enclave like South Ossetia. It’s about the signal that has been sent from the Kremlin to Washington. Bush has a few months to go in office. One of the things he can do, and which everyone ought to consider very carefully, with the utmost gravity, is whether to respond in a manner that will commit his successor, whoever it may be to a definite course.”

Putin is indeed a sly devil. He knows that the Bush administration is a lame duck, that the Democrats will not do squat and that NATO is toothless. I think Putin thinks he can hold onto half of Georgia and control the oil pipeline with a few divisions and air superiority. Meanwhile the Pentagon has to rework the war plan for Iran and time is running out on Bush’s term to act …so Russian wins this one and Iran continues its rush to get the Bomb…plus we loose face in all respects.