There’s a strong editorial in today’s Washington Post on Russia’s shooting down of a Georgian drone. Inasmuch as recognizing Kosovo, building missile shields, and talking about MAP status for Georgia and Ukraine at the NATO summit in Bucharest was seen as a “test” of Russia’s intentions, Moscow has decided to run its own tests against NATO’s bluster – correctly assuming that in general, the West is unwilling to stand up for the sovereignty of former Soviet states when the costs run too high.

Russian President Vladimir Putin read NATO’s ambivalence exactly as Georgia’s president predicted he would — as a sign of weakness. He has responded by escalating Moscow’s campaign against Georgia’s sovereignty, intended to force it back into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence. …