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.

Lets hope this isn’t more KGB smoke and mirrors. Diplomatic pressure and world condemnation have been stronger than even the Russians probably imagined it would be. Freedom loving countries are hoping that the Russians were feeling isolated. They were not far from overtaking Georgia and causing a government collapse. It may be that they still get one or both of those goals. In the event that the Russians are standing down, diplomatic pressure cannot let up.

Ralph Peters is a must read today.

Georgia may be cut in half soon.

From Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News:

The US yesterday pushed for the UN Security Council to call for a ceasefire in the widening Caucasus conflict as it accused Moscow of seeking regime change in Tbilisi.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he would meet his Western colleagues to finalise a draft resolution that would call for “an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all forces to the status quo in the breakaway Georgian enclave of South Ossetia. He particularly stressed the need for Moscow to withdraw the combat forces it sent to South Ossetia in the past week.

And in highly contentious exchanges with his Russian counterpart Vietaly Churkin reminiscent of the Cold War, Khalilzad accused Moscow of seeking “regime change in Tbilisi” and of waging “a campaign of terror” in Georgia.

He said Churkin cited comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a confidential telephone conversation with his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice suggesting that the president of Georgia “must go”.

“This is completely unacceptable and crosses the line,” the US ambassador said. “Russia must affirm that its aim is not to change the democratically elected government of Georgia and that it accepts that territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia.”.

Nice to know that when the Dems ran off John Bolton, Bush installed another hardass in Ambassador Khalilzad.

Its clear that the Georgian military has withdrawn from the disputed Osettia region while the Russians are continuing their offensive. Meanwhile in a seperaion section of the country, Abkhazia, Russian paratroopers have been deployed and are moving against Georgian forces.

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.