The Return?

With the recent military actions between Russian and Georgian forces harkening to the old Soviet days, I've been more than a little concerned about the similarities to the not so distant past. First, this should be a warning shot over the bow of the West: Russia is back. Lead by a former KGB leader (prime minister Putin) and an aggressive pro-military leader (president Medvedev), their tactics, in my opinion, are attempts to gauge the West and how we will react to the military advances. Is their ultimate goal to re-assert dominion over the old Soviet satellite states? Some claim that this reminds them of the invasion of the Sudetenland (formever Czech territory) by Hitler in the 1930's. While I do see the similarities, I think that this kind of bellicose rhetoric needs to be shelved for the time being. With that said, nobody can be sure what might be going through the minds of the Russian leaders and it seems as though this might be the first major test to see how the West might react. However, I do believe (hope) cooler heads will prevail.
What irks me to know end, however, is the idiocy and hypocritical rhetoric given by the the Bush administration in response. Bush claimed that "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state," and that Russia has lost significant standing in the international community as a result (paraphrasing). Yes, Russia did do this, but I would laugh at Bush's statements if I were the Russians. We have no moral high ground in the matter since OUR leaders ALSO invaded a sovereign country. If anything, Russia had more of a right than we did under the US government's false pretenses. Does it make Russia's actions right? Not at all in my mind. But for our arrogant leadership to promise protection to the Georgians, knowing full well that we are already overextended in two wars, and to claim some kind of morality in the matter is perplexing. But I guess one should not be surprised with this junta. Ultimately, what can be done? The US cannot do anything given it's poor standing and leverage in the world, along with a weakened military. Asia will stay out, which leaves Europe and NATO. Georgia is still waiting on membership into NATO, so perhaps the speedy inclusion into the group could restore balance to the region. It seems to be a wait and see moment.