There’s some interesting views here on the Russian invasion of Georgia and the attempt to parlay these events into increased leverage in the Middle East. From Lebanon’s Daily Star:

Russia has not only been threatening, blackmailing and – now in the case of Georgia – occupying neighboring countries, it has also been trying to reclaim its status as a great power beyond the borders of the infamous “near abroad.” For three reasons, the area where Russian ambitions and local expectations appear most to coincide seems to be the Middle East. First, Russia has been playing in the Middle East on old Cold War sympathies. It makes the Arab street and wide circles of uninformed but opinion-shaping actors believe that the past glory of the Soviet superpower is still alive. It actively plays on anti-Americanism, promoting the concept that the days of confrontation with the United States were in fact the good old days.