"Retaking Ossetia is just one part of Russia's campaign to reassert dominance over the Caucasus - and defy America"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4509624.ece
Also,
August 12, 2008, "Georgia timeline: how crisis unfolded"
Edit:
Georgia: atrocity claims as bodies burn in street
I can feel a rant coming on...
Thanks for a very interesting link. I think the Russians may object to being referred to as a tiger - they are the Bear of Euroasia with preponsity for dispensing suffocating bear hugs.
IF there is one good thing that flows from this conflict is that the Yanks got a good slap on the knuckles for the first time in a long time.