Georgia on my mind...

What were those chuckleheads in Georgia thinking when they "liberated" South Ossetia? Has Putin given the impression of being a wimp? Here's the best analogy I can come up with. Suppose Hawaii decides to break away from the USA. (and given the history of our heavy-handed occupation of Hawaii, they have every moral right to do so). Then let's say there is enough tension there to where the whites and natives tend to migrate into separate neighborhoods, a sort of de facto segregation. Now further imagine the Hawaiian national government opening discussion with the Chinese for a mutual defense pact. And last of all, they move against the white settlers in Hawaii, in a Zimbabwe-type "land liberation" grab. At some point, you just sorta expect the US to give those Hawaiian upstarts a forceful military response in order to show them who's who. So it goes with Georgia deciding to force the issue in South Ossetia. They've whopped the bear across the nose a couple times, and now one very p*ssed-off grizzly is on the rampage. I can sympathize with Georgia's present predicament, but for Pete's sake, what did you expect when you slapped Putin's face?