Russian onslaught continues even as Georgia is cowed down completely

Ignoring the repeated calls of Georgia, the Russia continues pounding vast areas of Ossetia. The Georgian army, suffering massive casualties in the face of overwhelming Russian firepower, retreated from the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Sunday. The defiant Georgian leaders have turned into malleable pleaders. They are looking, now, for concrete support from the Western countries in the face of a military debacle.

Ineffective condemnations
Russia has ignored calls for a truce and continues bombings targets deep in Georgia. Little, if any, opposition is there from the Georgian side. This fact is drawing new condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. The White House warned of serious setbacks in relations with Russia if the onslaught against Georgia, a close U.S. ally, did not immediately ends. Russian on Sunday evening hit the international airport and a military factory in the capital, Tbilisi. They also hit Georgian-held positions in Abkhazia, another breakaway region on the Black Sea. Russian warships were reported to be blockading a Georgian Black Sea port and to have sunk a Georgian gunboat.
It is not clear how far Russian troops intended to advance. Georgian villages just outside South Ossetia were shelled. Clouds of smoke and burning fields were visible on the horizon as artillery barrages echoed loudly. Georgians fled the villages, bedding loaded into the backs of their cars. Residents of one village outside South Ossetia, Kekhvi, said advancing Russian troops had entered their homes.

Coming to senses
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN in an interview that the people of his country "are not crazy" and "have no interest whatsoever in pursuing hostilities."
Georgian retreat is translating into popular anger among the people against the United States and the European Union. A widespread sentiment is that this small, pro-Western country has been abandoned to face Russia alone. Georgian officials said that the credibility of Western countries is on the line and that failure to stop the continuing Russian attacks could embolden Russia to threaten other countries in the region as well.
"Russia has applied unprecedented military power . . . and it is of such amplitude that it would have scared much bigger states," Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said in an interview. "This war has changed the whole system of values of pro-Western, liberal-minded people. I don't want to be a bad prophet, but why would Russia stop here? There are other countries where Russia thinks it has a claim to territory."