The Washington Post thinks maybe so.

“Russia has one foot into the international community . . . and one foot that is not,” a senior administration official said. Membership in institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the Group of Eight major industrialized nations “is what is at stake when Russia engages in behavior that looks like it came from another time.”

As both presidential candidates were in their own words clear in their condemnation of Russia’s invasion, it solidified US awareness. No one on either side of the Atlantic bought into Russian propoganda and the Russians had to be feeling a sense of isolation. One wonders if they hadn’t or if criticism had not been so strong and universal what might have been.

Russian military operations blitzed well beyond South Osettia in a remarkable period of time, but it had clearly been pre-plannned. Too many major pieces were in place for it not to have been in the works for some time. Air strikes into Georgia itself weren’t needed to pacify South Osettia. The Georgian army, although tough and well trained, were no match for Russian armor. Especially when combined with air support second only to our own.

The Russians knew this would be the case which made their air strikes and shelling of Georgian cities was unnecessary militarily. The Russians meant to punish the Georgian people and benefit in what ever way they could.

Russian armor divisions are reported to be preparing to advance into the Georgian city of Gori, south of the disputed territory of South Oseettian. Reports from the city are that it is under constant shelling from Russian artillery.

THE Georgian city of Gori is under “massive” attack from Russian artillery and planes and ground forces are preparing for an assault, according to the Georgian interior ministry.

“There was massive bombing of Gori all evening and now we are getting reports of an imminent attack by Russian tanks,” interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.

“Gori is being bombed massively from the air and from artillery as well.”

About 65km northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Gori is just south of the border with the rebel region of South Ossetia, which has seen fierce fighting between Russian and Georgian forces in recent days.

It is the largest Georgian town close to the region and an important strategic link between eastern and western Georgia.

Mr Utiashvili said Russian troops were preparing a ground assault.

They “are not there yet but it looks like they are getting ready for it,” he said, adding that Georgian forces were returning fire on Russian positions.

A spokesman for Russia’s defence ministry said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

The Russian army entered South Ossetia last week to repel a Georgian attempt to retake the province, which broke from central control in a war in the early 1990s.

Russian planes have since bombarded a number of sites around Georgia.

As what Russian President Dimitry Menvedev told President Bush became public, it may signal that the Russians are looking to get out of the conflict. Menvedev is quoted by a Kremlin spokesman to have told Bush the following:

In a telephone call with Mr Bush, Mr Medvedev “stressed that the only way out of the tragic crisis provoked by the Georgian leadership is a withdrawal by Tbilisi of its armed formations from the conflict zone,” a Kremlin statement said.

Apparently Bush informed Medvedev thats their military actions were disproportional:

“The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis,” said Mr Bush, who is attending the Olympics in Beijing.

Vladimir Putin is reported to have returned from the Olympics to the area. Photographs have gone around the world that show civilian apartments that have been bombed in Gorgi which is outside the disputed territory.

I’m not sure if the Russians were prepared for the world media coverage of their massive aggression that a Fox News correspondant just confimed included Russian naval ships. Clearly this was planned well in advance by the Russians due to the presence of Russian armor and its navy. And it was timed to coincide with the beginning of the Olympics.

Media coverage in the US would be much greater this weekend had it not been for the revelations by John Edwards which confirmed his extramarrital affair.

The US-educated Georgian president has been quite public with his open desire for a cease-fire. The fact that the Russian president responded to the same could be indicating that they might want a way out.

The world will know Russian intentions if their planes continue to be seen over Georgia when the sun comes up there in a few short hours.

UPDATE: Writing in Pajamas Media, Roger Kimball believes that the Russians desire to reclaim all of Georgia.

When Russian tanks and troops poured into the separatist Georgian province of South Ossetia yesterday, it was not, as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, part of a “peacekeeping mission.” It was part of an imperialist mission whose undeclared goal is to reabsorb the whole of Georgia–West-leaning Georgia with its critical oil pipeline supplying energy to an increasingly thirsty Europe–into mother Russia.

Indeed, that pipeline is the unacknowledged key to the drama–unacknowledged, anyway, by the belligerents. As an AP story notes, the “U.S.-backed oil pipeline runs through Georgia, allowing the West to reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern oil while bypassing Russia and Iran.” A good thing for the West; but is such autonomy something Russia (or, for that matter, Iran) wants to encourage? Indeed, as I write, Reuters has issued an unconfirmed report that earlier today Russia attacked not only targets in South Ossetia but also targeted “the major Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.”

UPDATE: Czech Republic Condemns Russian Federation. Offers to send peacekeeping units

UPDATE: EU to have emergency summit

UPDATE: McClatchy News Update just in.

Just as they did when they invaded Afghanistan during Christmas 29 years ago, Russian armor rolled. News travels differently than it once did, though. International analytical condemnation came immediately and went worldwide. Ralph Peters provides excellent analysis in his essay, “Raping Georgia.”

Yesterday, the world didn’t watch the Olympic opening ceremonies (the Chinese must be furious at the Russians). Instead, we saw images of Soviet - sorry, I meant Russian - aircraft pounding Georgian territory as Russian armor rolled over the Caucasus Mountains.

The Kremlin is determined to break Georgia’s will - and keep the feisty republic out of NATO.

Russia, you see, still believes it’s entitled to all of its former empire. And, tragically, “Old Europe” is back: Yesterday, Germany and other nervous European states bought the Russian line that Georgia is the aggressor. Wouldn’t want to anger Moscow . .

Peters gives clear details and timeline to the events with just the right snark.

The Kremlin decided it was time to act, since Georgia was only growing stronger under its democratically elected government. Although NATO has been hemming and hawing about admitting Georgia, the Russians didn’t want to take any chances. (Just last month, 1,000 US troops were in Georgia for an exercise.)

Calculating that the media and world leaders would be partying in Beijing, the Russians ordered North Ossetian militiamen, backed by Russian “peacekeepers” and mercenaries, to provoke the Georgians earlier this month.

Weary of the Russian presence on their soil, the Georgians took the bait. President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered his US-trained military to respond.

That was the excuse the Kremlin wanted. Immediately, a tank brigade from Russia’s 58th Army (the butchers of Chechnya) crossed the international border into Poland - sorry, I meant Georgia.

Colonel Peters seems to indicate that the Russians need to overwhelm the Georgians with brute force, but will be surprised by the ferocity of the Georgian counterattacks. The Georgian military has certainly prepared itself for a Russian invasion and the Caucasus Mountains provide some serious logistical problems for the Russians.

Georgia is a US ally. Both presidential candidates have called for Russian withdrawal. Expect very strong diplomatic pressure on the Russians from the US until they end their pre-planned offensive against its neighbor.