My guess is that the operational pause/cease-fire was due to limitations on pilots.

Russia only has so many. Losses their, from various anti-Air systems, are far more deadly than that to armored vehicles. Pilots are not easily replaced. Still, the application of the lessons of OIF by the Russians is impressive. They certainly did not act like that of the USSR in Afghanistan.

I wonder if Putin will fall given that he has not accomplished his twin objectives: demolition of the Georgian pipeline and world oil pushed back up. It is very strange that Medvedev is speaking and Putin is silent. Abkhazia and S. Ossetia are unimportant even to their inhabitants. Rather, it’s the oil (and pipeline) that matter. That still lies in Georgian hands.