In Washington yesterday, President Bush issued a statement of precisely the sort the world expects from American leadership in such circumstances.

"The United States and our allies stand with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government," Mr. Bush said. In other words, the Russians have made no pretense that their purpose in Georgia is to remove President Mikheil Saakashvili from the office to which he was elected in 2004.

Mr. Bush also noted pointedly that "The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us." It has become clear through this week that Mr. Putin's rationale for the invasion extends beyond Georgia's violated borders. His intent is to convince independent nations on Russia's periphery -- Ukraine, the Baltic states -- that persisting as Poland has to deepen formal ties to the West, particularly NATO, will cost them dearly. In crudest terms, it will be fatal.

This would be a reversion to the vassal-state relationship of the Cold War