Plus the Russians are our friends. :D (sort of)
But Georgia is an official ally of the US.
I think Congress/Bush will put the US to war with Russia.
No, no no no no. US will probably ask the UN and allies to tell Russia to respect the sovereignty, and go directly to arbitration. You can't just arbitrarily throw people and guns into a conflict, you need to show the world a probable cause or face being called a war mongering nation, plus get in deep stuff with the UN. This is similar to the Chechnyan rebels attacking the pipelines near the Black Sea, control of the pipelines is a big bargaining chip and would halt Russia's oil production in the Black Sea. Basically Georgia wants to be a NATO member and that pisses off Russia because Russia is not a member of NATO, and the smaller countries around Georgia could op to apply to NATO as well.
Russia's stratagem has always been strong arm military tactics, from the Bulgarian [1959] uprising to the Afghanistan conflict [1979] and many more. This is bad timing on their part, the Olympics are on and if this escalates US allies and the US could pull out of the Olympics as a boycott (they did this during the Afghan conflict). This will most likely make China spaz out, seeing who they want the Olympics to go off without a hitch. China usually supports Russia, plus China and India are in a pact, so India may be drawn in. Most European countries that have ties with the west will either frown upon Russian aggression or attempt to act neutral to avoid crossing Russia.
Georgia has been training with the US to avoid conflicts like this, they know they can't defeat the Russian army. But their plan isn't that straight forward, they will most likely hold the line until international mediation happens. Their forces in Iraq will most likely be heading home to support the defense, on US planes albeit.
Putin's a snake [and still has enough power in the Kremlin, which he runs now] and he will most likely pull a rabbit out of his ass [probably making the President of Russia, his friend work for his agenda] and complicate this even more, drawing their allies into the game. That whole area has had ties to the former Soviet Union and the old Russian Empire, I suspect the Serbs aren't too happy the Pro-Americans are still around in Georgia.
