But Medvedev can't quite stick with the talking points that Putin provided:
"Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on," Medvedev said.
"We have reached a moment of truth. It became a different world after Aug. 8. Let's call things as they should be called — because of this aggression, a real war took place, which took the lives of Russians, Ossetians and Georgians," he said.
As an aside, it's kind of cute how Medvedev pretends he's in charge of Russia! Putin lets him spout off, but just try to decide on something of substance outside of his office decor and see how far Medvedev gets.
Sure, he got out the protecting their citizens line. But then he blew it by boasting. Normally, those who have just rescued people don't then proceed to boast of their power and warn people not to screw with them.
Funny enough, even the mini-USSR, Belorussia, is newly uncomfortable about Russia:
The growing estrangement with Russia apparently has prompted Lukashenko to try to improve Belarus' ties with the West. The flamboyant Belarusian leader has softened his anti-Western rhetoric considerably and Belarusian authorities last month freed the last remaining political prisoners whose release the West had demanded.
Belarus' first post-Soviet leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, who now is an opposition politician, said Lukashenko's lukewarm support for Russia's war in Georgia and his decision to release political prisoners was a "clearly signaled his desire to normalize ties with the U.S. and the EU."
"Lukashenko has been playing a game trying to gain weight in Russia's eyes and blackmail it by showing that he may turn to the West any moment," Shushkevich told the AP.
So we suspended some fairly minor sanctions. I'd guess the dictatorial Belorussians aren't serious about flipping to the West, But it doesn't hurt to worry the Russians that the country might. Heck, who knows? Maybe a color revolution will break out.
Russia's real war of aggression has created a different world, all right.
