First off, no one is innocent in the situation in the Caucasus. Georgia did invade South Ossetia, and initially displayed an overwhelming military presence of their own until the Russians came in and retaliated.
And Russia used this as an opportunity and an excuse to have a show of force in their own backyard.
What puzzles me, is that those in the State Department are criticizing Russia for "disproportionate show of force" when we did the same thing in Iraq. In many ways, our invasion of Iraq was a bigger version of what Russia is up to.
I suppose that invading/occupying foreign lands, and destabilizing regions is the United States' job.