Afghanistan used to be Russia's Vietnam, but now Georgia is Russia's Vietnam

From the Washington Post: "Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said on Monday that military operations in Georgia are almost complete, even as Russian strikes continued against targets in this central Georgian city and elsewhere... Deputy chief of General Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said at a Moscow news briefing that Russia was not intending 'to invade Georgia', and that a key principle of the current operation was that troops remain inside South Ossetia. Georgia has been trying to suppress a separatist movement in the province, which is historically tied to Russia. Moscow moved tanks and troops into South Ossetia late last week to repel a Georgian offensive and prevent deaths among a Russian peacekeeping force in province... The Georgian army, suffering massive casualties in the face of overwhelming Russian firepower, retreated from South Ossetia on Sunday. Georgian leaders' recent expressions of defiance turned increasingly into pleas for a cease-fire and Western support in the face of a military debacle... It remained unclear Sunday how far Russian troops intended to advance. Georgian villages just outside South Ossetia were shelled Sunday, clouds of smoke and burning fields visible on the horizon as artillery barrages echoed loudly. Georgians fled the villages, bedding loaded into the backs of their cars. Residents of one village outside South Ossetia, Kekhvi, said advancing Russian troops had entered their homes... Georgia's retreat is translating into popular anger among Georgians against the United States and the European Union, and a widespread sentiment that this small, pro-Western country has been abandoned to face Russia alone. Georgian officials said that the West's credibility is on the line and that failure to stop the continuing attacks could embolden Russia to threaten other countries in the region... U.S. military aircraft began landing at the commercial airport Sunday, transporting Georgian soldiers that the government ordered home from Iraq. Until the callback, Georgia had the third-largest contingent of troops serving in Iraq, 2000, after the United States and Britain... Vice President Cheney, speaking Sunday with Saakashvili, expressed the United States' "solidarity" with the Georgian people and their elected leaders, Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said in a statement. Cheney praised the decision to withdraw from the conflict zone and said that Russian aggression must not go unanswered... On Sunday, Russian forces pounded Georgian positions in the only section of Abkhazia that the Georgian government controls. Six Russian warships were positioned off the coast of Abkhazia, and Russian troops were deployed into the enclave from the vessels, according to Georgian and U.S. officials... Russian officials also denied Georgian charges that two of its warships from the Black Sea fleet were blockading the Georgian port of Poti, which was also bombed this weekend. Georgia imports about 85 percent of its wheat, much of it passing through Poti, officials here say... Georgian officials also said that Russian bombers have eight times attempted to hit an oil pipeline that crosses Georgia and connects Azerbaijan and Turkey, and is part of Europe's energy chain. "It is a direct attack on the energy security of Europe," Gurgenidze said. "Militarily, it makes absolutely no sense."

Rico asks, can you say 'domino theory'?