Another possibility: immediately accept Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, and station a small squadron of NATO aircraft in Georgia, a la Baltic air policing mission. A modest number of aircraft would then be more than enough, since Russia would really have to think twice (or more) about shooting at NATO aircraft. Georgia would then focus on ground-based stuff, i.e. SAMs, better troop training, new equipment etc… By removing arguably the most expensive part of the re-equipping phase, i.e. fighters, they can focus on more achievable goals. If they want a boost, pick up a few hundred ex-stock M60 tanks, upgraded to Sabra spec; several hundred M113s, and so on.

Russia wouldn’t spare him a cent, if Georgia attacked Russia while in NATO.

Lets not get carried away….the US is still the most powerful nation in the world. But that doesn’t mean they can be everywhere at the same time

That is what you think. It is powerful with NATO support. The U.S has not won any war independently on its own. Defeated in Vietnam, had she fought the war with NATO allies she could have won. Iraq,Serbia,Yugoslavia Afghanistan are all allied wars.
U.S cannot win a war with an adversary with capability as Georgia with the weapons Russia used, T-55s., SU-24s and quantity of troeps used.

Its getting seriously complicated day by day. Bush shouldn’t have rushed with US troops. Now you have this: One side needs to give in, or we might face US vs. Russia direct (hopefully non nuclear) engagement.

Now that US troops are on the Ground, Russia is either going to submit and not do whatever it wants as far as military objectives in their own back yard. That, by the way, would be very obvious, and embarrassing submission by Russian military to the US influence in the eyes of the world.

On the other hand, if they continue as they are now, we might see US deployment of F-22s to the region, and that will be a direct threat to RUAF which will not be left unanswered.

If F-22s get deployed to the region, we will face a whole new level of crises. As bad as Cuban missile crises were.

just my thoughts tonight..
we’ll see soon.

It is cheap to to all this after the real fight, these are the hallmark of a coward nation. Are you aware of the fact that before the humanitarian mission the only assistant the U.S can give an ally “when the push comes to shove is all this” Yelling and warnings are cheap, talk is cheap.
Go to time and newsweek website to read opinions about some Georgians.
Some say they wouldn’t see the U.S as a brave and powerful Nation any more ,and would certainly loose respect and belief in the U.S except democracy invented by the Greeks. Russia is still in Georgia, Rice called Larov to ask permission before U.S troops are there to deliver the good. Big mouth nation.

What’s the point of all Russian SAMs? Doesn’t the US already have stealth?

Binoculars can even track them, aka Yugoslolavia episode.

I have no doubt NATO, EU, and the world as a whole will be sending a great deal of aid in the very near future. In the short-term I guess NATO and the EU should just attack Russia………….Really, what do you expect them to do!

Any such attempt to attack Russia would be met with a total annihilation of Europe and the U.S in a fell swoop. Remember Putin said Russia would be first to unleash a nuclear retalliation in a case of NATO attacks. This is in sharp contrast with the soviet military doctrine, which aimed at fighting with conventional forces in any conflict and reserving nuclear strike as a means of last resort.

NATO consisting of over 25 countries including the U.S with a population of over 600million people and numerous number of soldiers and conventional arms could only be counted with a nuclear strike that would annihilate all of the U.S landmass + Europe, remember Russia is bigger than the U.S and Europe combined. The effect would however be mutual and I don’t think any person save a lunatic would ever dream of that.

A Russian general stated that,they have not used any new weapons, is that true?

Saakashvili is a good as gone, and I suspect there is/has been a major shift of mood with the Georgian population with regard to the US and NATO. I hve lost track of the number of times I have heard or read of interviews with Georgians who were asking where the US and NATO were when the Russians were pounding the Georgian military.

Russia has been wise to stop while they remained in a very strong position militarily and diplomatically. I doubt the Russians could have asked for a better outcome. It has effectively annexed Abjhazia and S.O; badly mauled the US trained and supported Georgian military; probably dealt Saakashvili’s administration a fatal blow, and almost certainly killed Georgia’s NATO asperations for a long time. Not only would key NATO members block Georgian membership, Georgia itself may no longer want to join NATO because of the way many in Georgia felt they have been left out to dry. What more, the conflict has sent a powerful message to all the other NATO asperants in the region of what Russia is able to do, and what NATO seems unable and/or unwilling to do. And most importantly, they have done all this is a pretty legitemate way that not even the biased western powers can find much to complain about.

I agree with plywolf. Russia has no ally as of today in any military organization. She is alone, no NATO and EU. The U.S only depends on allies.
The wars of Iraq and kosovo and Yugoslavia were supported by allies. Russia is formidable, all of a sudden senator Carl Levin of armed services commision, western analists and generals as Wesley Clarke are refering to Russia as a superpower. Russia was ,is and would all the time be a superpower.It is just that they don’t boast and soon after the cold-war,Russia has rather been thinking about her economic problems, and the U.S took advantage of this to fool around, with the western propaganda as the one and only world’s superpower. If you had a country with weapon as potent as SS-18,the world’s most formidable and the Topol-M’s why not respect her.

This is excerpt from what the Russian said

“The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored,” Medvedev said. “The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized.”

The Russian president, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance.

“If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,” he told his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili should leave office and that Georgian troops should stay out of South Ossetia permanently.

Moscow will not talk to Saakashvili, Lavrov said; the best thing for Saakashvili to do “would be to step down.”