Let me get this straight. S. Ossetia a part of Georgia has been trying to assert its ethnic identity from an oppressive democratic gov't of Georgia (accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing by gov't forces). Was Russia supposed to sit by as its former citizens get slaughtered ?
I am sure it was a flanking manuever by the Russians to take a port city of Abkhazia. Any way it seems that cooler heads have prevailed for the time being.