It sounds like SOMEBODY got through to them on the backchannel and told them, “You REALLY don’t want to risk all-out war with certain allies of Georgia, do you?”.
Give up the bluster, willya? Allies such as whom? The USA? Oh. You mean the country who voted 50% for Gore and then Kerry? The country that is currently polling ahead for an otherwise admitted Marxist?
The one where most "true conservatives" would rather see us defeated in Iraq and our economy taxed to shambles by that Marxist rather than see their prcious GOP diluted by a elder-pol.
The one where the largest propaganda factory in the world (Hollywood) is staunchly behind the socialists and only allows movies to be made with anti-war, anti-American bias?
What, exactly, is Ivan supposed to be afraid of?