Will the United States put real pressure on Russia to stop? The prevailing view in our State Department: “While America considers Georgia its strongest ally in the bloc of former Soviet countries, Washington needs Russia too much on big issues like Iran to risk it all to defend Georgia.”

The former Soviet satellites have been left in no doubt that Russia must be regarded as “glavniy”, or No. 1, if they wish to avoid the fate of Georgia. Central to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s nationalistic policy is a conviction that the power of the West - seemingly unassailable at the end of the Cold War - is on the wane.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said late yesterday that Russian tanks were on Georgian territory outside South Ossetia and Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said a “massive” aerial bombardment of the central Georgian city Gori was taking place.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said that Russia had built up large forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia — breakaway regions that have support from Moscow — including 300 artillery pieces in South Ossetia alone. Russian forces, a spokesman said, were also poised just over the border at Larsi, where they could open a third line of attack.

Russia’s use of its potent air weaponry signals a “severe” and “dangerous escalation in the crisis,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN. The official suggested that Russia is trying to destabilize Georgia politically in an effort to kill its chances of joining NATO.

Neither side showed any indication of backing down. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared that “war has started,” and President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia accused Russia of a “well-planned invasion” and mobilized Georgia’s military reserves.