Talk politics.

The Russo-Georgian war was a symptom, not a cause for the acceleration or slowing down of the push. Russia was gradually undermining the Georgian sovereignty, and Saakashvili caught the bait. It would happen inevitably, only a matter of time. Putin placed a trap for him and he fell in it. All this means that it rather accelerated the push, in a sense that it opened a new door for the Russian expansion into Caucasus, or at least undermining the opponents to this expansion. Armenia is the only friend of Russia in Caucasus, while Aerbaijan is siding with Turkey ("Nabucco" is part of their partnership). And Georgia is split between their shared Christian heritage with Russia and Saakashvili's desire to make it a US satellite. So far the US positions are slightly in the retreat while Russia is asserting better positions. The latest events in Kyrgyzstan are part of that too. It's a long chess match of going forward and backward, and Obama should be asking himself some tough questions because it's not all just about Iraq and Afghanistan.