Ah yes, after all the cut and paste, we are left with the unpalatable truth(for some)that this is big payback time for the Russians...and the reason? Basically Western stupidity and short sightedness.

Since the nineties the West, and the USA in particular have treated Russia in the most dismissive manner,ignoring their input on Kosovo, Iraq, Nato membership for Baltic countries. That was short sighted
The stupid part was in attempting to make Georgia an ally and an outpost of US influence, without taking into account ethnic tensions or our future dependence on Russian energy supplies.

America's humiliation in Georgia has been brought about by their own arrogance in supporting and arming a madman(Saakashvili) in an attempt to humiliate Russia.
Bruce, Teribus, pdq and all the other right wingers, who usually trumpet the slogan "might is right", dont like it one little bit when WE are not "the mighty".
They conveniently forget what Georgia has done to South Ossetia...The carving of Kosovo from Serbia...Reagan's invasion of Grenada...Iraq...Afghanistan...the list is endless...Vietnam?

There are many lessons to be learned from the games being played out in Georgia, but the greatest is to NATO and to the Empire which controls it. Do you really want to incorporate the ethnic feuds of the ex-Soviet Caucasian states into your alliance, just to rub salt into the bear's wounds?

As I stated earlier the balance of power is shifting, Russia's star is rising and no amount of sabre rattling or appeals to hypocritical "democratic ideals" is going to make any difference.

At last the West is going to have to play second fiddle and start listening to the tune