The Russian thinking may appear paranoid and their actions overly agressive to us in the West, but from their point of view, and the necessary defense of their interests, it appears quite different.

The Russians were deeply offended over the West's hypocracy demonstrated in recognizing Kosovo's independance from Serbia. Territorial integrity of nations apparently means one thing in the former Yugoslavia and something quite different in the former Soviet states.

Given the 100+ American military advisors in Georgia and the very close cooperation between the two countries, the US certainly had to have known of Georgia's plan to attack South Ossetia, and the US had to have known as well of the presence of ample Russian forces poised to counterattack. The Russians
repelled and routed the Georgians so quickly and so completely - it's certainly possible that the Russians were all set and ready to go, and just waiting for the Georgians to provoke it, to set it off. The big mystery is, why did the US let it happen?!?