The US opens the door, Russia says thank you

It is of course unthinkable that Russia would've acted in such a blatantly gleeful manner during its invasion/aggression in Georgia were it not for the fact the the UN and the so-called "International Consensus" are pretty much defunct niceties nowadays.

The fallout from the Irak War has produced a wide spectrum of effects but my guess is that we are witnessing the most spectacular of them to day, the most blazé show of the "might is right" doctrine since the Bush administration re-invigorated the concept and gave it currency.

Of course, it could be reasonably argued that Russia would've acted the same way regardless of what happened in the past 5 years.

Time (and declassified archives) will tell.