Some observers and media analysts are casting the recent crisis in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia as an indication that US power is on the wane in the post-Cold War world.

The Financial Times says the "crisis has dealt a setback to US efforts to draw Georgia and other former Soviet states into the western sphere of influence and plunged an already-fraught US-Russian relationship into deeper disarray." Moreover, "some critics believe the US administration helped sow the seeds of conflict by pushing too aggressively for Georgia to be brought within the western fold at a time when the US and Russia are at odds over a range of security issues in the region."

The Christian Science Monitor, for example, reports, "Russia's blitz into the former Soviet republic of Georgia has exposed starkly the limits of US military power and geopolitical influence in the era following the invasion of Iraq." McClatchy reports "there's also concern that Russia, stoked by its military success in Georgia, could move to re-exert its influence on other parts of its former empire, including Ukraine." The Christian Science Monitor says in a second story that there is "an air of satisfaction in Moscow over what appears to be a crushing Russian victory in its muscular, five-day long intervention." The Washington Post runs a similar story under the headline "In Russia, Nationalist Pride Prevails." The Los Angeles Times also reports on its front page, "By sending in its troops Russia seized the upper hand strategically in dealing with countries around its periphery." Georgia, says the Times, "appears to have all but given up his bid to reclaim two disputed regions on the Russian border." The Washington Times runs a similar report.

The US and its allies, reports the AP, were "scrambling" yesterday "to find ways to punish Russia," but found themselves "with scant leverage in the face of an emboldened Moscow." The New York Times reports the Bush Administration "is expected to cancel an upcoming naval exercise with Russian navy vessels and to press NATO likewise to prohibit a Russian warship from joining a separate alliance exercise." The Wall Street Journal notes "two US officials" yesterday "warned that Russia risks international isolation if it persists with the fighting," and AFP quotes "two senior US officials" saying the US is "mulling responses to Russia's attacks on Georgia that range from cancelling multilateral naval exercises to reconsidering Moscow's place in global bodies."

ABC World News interviewed Secretary of State Rice last night. Asked about possible consequences for Russia, the Secretary said: "This isn't 1968. The predecessor state of Russia, the Soviet Union, didn't care about its international reputation because it wasn't attempting to integrate into international organizations. It wasn't attempting to be a part of the prosperous and forward-looking Europe. The Russians have said that they do want to be a part of that prosperous and forward-looking international community. And, frankly, they're doing great damage to their ability to do that."

The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports the Bush Administration also "suggested yesterday that an apparent cease-fire in Georgia came about because Moscow feared it would be banished from Western-dominated international economic and political institutions if it did not stop its 'aggression' in the former Soviet republic."

The New York Times reports that "one month ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia, for a high-profile visit that was planned to accomplish two very different goals." During a private dinner, Rice's aides say "she warned...Saakashvili...not to get into a military conflict with Russia that Georgia could not win." But publicly, the Times adds, "Rice struck a different tone, one of defiant support for Georgia in the face of Russian pressure." The "accumulation of years of mixed messages may have made the American warnings fall on deaf ears."

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