What sort of world dynamic has been created with the Russia / Georgia conflict?

I didn't know much about the country of Georgia until I saw their president pleading for help to fend off a Russian invasion. At first, it seemed as if Georgia had sustained an unprovoked attack. But the more information that I obtained, it would appear that Georgia offensively struck the former autonomous region of Osettia, an area within Georgia that has strong ethnic ties to Russia, apparently in an effort to solidify it's control over the oil rich region. It reminds me of what happened with Yugoslavia.