War, briefly

This Russia/Georgia thing is freaking me out a little. As a rule I'm going to go light on the politics in this space, because:

1. I don't know all that much
2. There are plenty of other, better sources for that kind of thing
3. Fantasizing that I understand policy/global diplomacy/the art of war seems SUPREMELY arrogant and disrespectful and self indulgent. With most of what you find on here, you'll know that it is an entirely ill-informed (occasionally ill-formed) opinion on things that, for the most part, will have no impact at all on your life. (Not that the goings on in Gori necessarily will either - if they do, that probably spells big trouble). World affairs demand a more reasoned, resourced approach, and in fact, I think, discussing them at all implies that you've taken such an approach. Which I haven't.
   

So, briefly, here's what's freaking me out.

It seems like this escalation (now perhaps tamping down? I heard on BBC that Russia was pulling back, but they kept citing some sort of faxed news source [further brackets - these exist? still?] in a mantra of non-accountability), this escalation, I say, is designed to force the West to put up or shut up - and to instruct the rest of the former Soviet sphere on how much Western support they can expect for their nascent independent democracies, by example. And I have no idea what the right response would be.