Yep, Georgia Attacked South Odessia: Russia Saved Them

Russia were not the good guys but neither were Georgia.

Georgia would not have made a move without encouragement from far-right nut-jobs in the USA

Far-right nut-jobs failed to deliver the sort of response Georgia was expecting (whether or not this was by design of the nut-jobs is left to your personal preferences)

Putin is not a czarist - he's an unreconstructed KGB/Stalinist.

The rest of the world has understood all this for weeks. Try looking over your insular parapet sometime.

OK, hold on, There is NO WAY we'd save Quebec...HELL NO, so the comparison falls flat dale :)

As for this whole scenario, this is pretty simple.

Putin.

Putin.

Putin.

The guy's a reincarnated czarist in post-fall colors. He YEARNS for the old empire, and failing that, a return to some semblence of the 60's-90's would suffice. Of course, he sees himself as the head of this new power. So, to get back to topic, they need more buffer states and areas.

The former soviet republics have "mostly" turned western, at the very least paying lip-service for cash and support, so Russia worries about exposure. With Poland placing US missile defense shield stations (which have been publicly acknowledge by Russia as being 24 hour targeted already) to cover "Middle Eastern" threats, we've already stuck the saber up their nose prior to shaking it.

So they've nicked a few spots (Poti) and recognized a place or two (see Abkhazia and N. Ossetia) in an effort to keep most people worried, but not TOO much. Still, this little effort has hurt their nascent economy fiercely, they are in a rush to get back to "normal"

But don't forget, they thought they could do so much because they assumed everyone would understand from the start that the Georgians were in the wrong...They're pretty pissed and confused as to the coverage the MSM over here gives them

Russia has been less than useful in the so called "War on Terror" by selling weapon systems to people I would rather not see. So from that perspective I would say "Bad Russia". As a matter of fact, as a juror in US Georgia I can legally nullify based on personal belief and at this point anyone who does bad things to Russia, no matter how bad, is "not guilty" in my book. Outrage and sympathy should be reserved for people who deserve it.

How about US recognition of Kosovo?

Isn't that a bit like the USA rushing in to save Quebec if it broke away from Canada and they (Canada) did something about it? Would you still think the USA were the good guys?