"The move, which requires the approval of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to become law, gave a domestic legal basis for the Kremlin to take control of the areas in defiance of the U.S.-backed government of Georgia.

"While it is not certain that Medvedev will give a green light to the legislation, its passage was a strong signal from Moscow. \

"Russian leaders said they weren't worried that NATO would cut off cooperation in response and seemed confident western countries will come to terms with Russia's actions because they have no other choice.

"While South Ossetia and Abkhazia have little strategic value of their own, the fighting and subsequent Russian occupation of the two enclaves and a wide swath of Georgian territory beyond sent a strong signal about Moscow's anger about western powers' expansion toward its borders.

"Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, a White House favorite, enraged the Kremlin this year by aggressively pursuing membership in both NATO and the European Union.

"A NATO meeting in April that left the door open for eventual membership for Georgia and Ukraine, another former Soviet republic, set Russia and Georgia on a collision course, said Gia Jandieri, an analyst in Tbilisi.

"A major obstacle for Georgia's entry to NATO was Georgia's inability to control South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a situation it was apparently trying to resolve with its push into South Ossetia on Aug. 7, which Russia crushed in the days after. Russia had long been issuing passports to residents of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, setting up claims that it had a responsibility to protect its citizens against Georgia.

" 'It created a competition between the two sides, with one side trying to deal with these conflicts and the other wanting to blow them up,' Jandieri said.

Another stupid, imprudent, unwise move and apparent lack of strategy by the Bushites, whose neocon philosophy basically consists of rattling sabers in order to try and control oil supply and oil pipelines in sovereign countries.