I suspected as much.

Russia was rolling before Georgia sent troops into the breakaway regions, according to some intercepted phone calls.  South Ossetian border guards called in long before Georgia moved, saying that Russian troops were headed for the border twenty hours before the Georgian military started to move.

Russia, of course denied it.  Their foreign ministry spokesman said that all that needed to be done to prove Russia not the aggressor would be to release satellite imagery that shows troop movement, and that any satellite imagery would prove that Georgia was lying.

That depends, I guess,  on whether satellites can see through the two mile long tunnel through the mountains, one end of which is in Russia.  

In any case, this attack is entirely within Russia's character, according to Stratfor's analysis.  Their analysts explain that Russia tends to shrink back to within its traditional borders when they've overextended themselves and weakened, and re-emerge to take back "buffer zone" territories when they've recovered their strength.  

Stratfor analysts suggest that, to keep us occupied, Russia's likely to begin playing in Central and South America again, as well as in the Middle East.  That makes sense, because that's what they did last time--they kept us bogged down in endless proxy wars, in Latin America in particular, where their national intelligence strengths and our weaknesses were maximized. 

If anything is going to get John McCain elected, it's going to be this: if there's one area that he's experienced in, it's Russian aggression, containing Russian ambitions, and fighting proxy wars. Senator Barack Obama's a man of peace.  Unfortunately, for his candidacy and for the rest of us, the time for a man of peace has passed.  If he's elected instead, he's going to have to learn another type of "diplomacy" to deal with the emerging threats.