"Today the European Union confronts Russia in the same way Neville Chamberlain confronted Hitler in 1938; being outwitted and tricked in the ceasefire negotiations, there is no possible outcome other than appeasement. The Russians insist that their troops be accepted as peacekeepers in Georgia. The French mediators allow this. And so, the stipulated withdrawal of combatants therefore does not apply to the Russian troops. Under this ceasefire agreement Moscow can claim – in a strictly legal sense – that Russian troops can stay in Georgia indefinitely. President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin are laughing at the French while observing international law. Meanwhile, occupied Georgia is looted and burned; Georgian ships are sunk and the Georgian capital is strangled."
Kosovo gave Russia merely a convenient talking point. We should be under no illusion. Russia would have done exactly the same thing without Kosovo. BTW the whole issue has little to do with "Russian-speaking". The Ossets are Iranian-related ethnically and linguistically. The Russians merely handed them out fresh passports as a pretext for invasion.