Russians will relish the apparent victory in what is presented to them as a righteous war. Russia’s leadership will expect many benefits: a compliant state at its southern border, dismembered with the loss of key provinces and disabused of its ambitions to join the EU and NATO; a surge of popular support at home; a bloody thumb in the eyes of those Western leaders who had pushed the expansion of NATO, the independence of Kosovo, missiles on Central European turf and the support for a democratic revolution and an uncompromising leader in Russia’s own backyard; and finally, the sweet irony of playing out a sick parody of recent U.S. international actions and watchwords: from support for “self-determination” and “independence” (as in Kosovo) to “regime change” (as in Iraq) and a “fight against genocide” (as in Darfur), with “unilateralism” and “exceptionalism” as the hallmark of the intervention in Georgia.