Will Russian aggression in Georgia change the way the United States deals with Moscow?

Well, I think that it already has changed the way the United States is dealing with Moscow. The United States has been very tough in its rhetoric against Russia over the past couple of weeks. President Bush, Secretaries Rice and Gates, have been very strong in language condemning Russia, stating that its overreaction to the initial conflict has to be condemned. I certainly agree with that. I think that Russia has used disproportionate force to push Georgia out of South Ossettia and has made moves that have nothing to do with the initial trigger for the conflict. At the same time, I believe that the United States and Russia need to take step back and think about the broader strategic relationship between the two countries. Whether we like it or not, we need each other to deal with a number of international security crises in the worldÑthe Iranian nuclear threat, nonproliferation more broadly, international terrorism. And as of now, the relationship has really devolved into a tit-for-tat, with Russia responding to our support for Kosovo, our missile defense plans, our interest in bringing both Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. And the United States hasn't paid much attention to what the Russian response would be to our moves. So I think that the United States and Russia need to think more strategically about what we can get from the relationship and have a longer-term view and not just react to short-term issues.

Is there a valid comparison between South Ossettia and Kosovo?

I certainly think that many are trying to make the comparisonÑin particular Russia, who has said for quite some time that if independence is good enough for Kosovo, it's good enough for South Ossettia and Abkhazia. But I think that there are major difference there. First of all, in Kosovo you had a massive ethnic cleansing campaign in the late '90s that NATO had to push back. We didn't have that in South Ossettia. Certainly there have been atrocities committed by both Russians and Georgians during this conflict, but it has not risen to the level that we saw in Kosovo. Secondly, in Kosovo, you had a much longer international dispute resolution process involving the United Nations to try to find a resolution to that conflict. And after a number of years there was a decision by the United Nations and by the international community by-and-large that independence was really the only option for Kosovo. That process hasn't fully taken place within South Ossettia.

Can the United States help prevent further aggression between Russia and outlying areas?

Well, the United States is frankly limited in what it can really do in preventing Russian aggression within the Caucasus. The Untied States can, of course, apply diplomatic and economic pressure to Russia and do what it can to send a message that certain aggression will not be tolerated by the international community. And there's been some talk of trying to kick Russia out of the G8, prevent its accession to the WTO, and there's already been a suspending of NATO cooperation between Russia and the West. But at the same time, i don't think anyone believes that the Unites States and Russia are ready to enter into a military conflict given that Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons. And I don't think Europe has any taste for military confrontation with Russia either. So, I think one of the big problems in terms of the beginning of this conflict, is that Georgia overestimated what the West was able to do to push Russia back, and probably underestimated what the Russian response would be.