In both cases, military efficiency and success at the combat level did not translate into any real political-strategic gain. Pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili remains in power in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, surviving a five-day Russian blitzkrieg that conquered one-third of his mountainous and heavily forested country in only five days. And Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, retains power in Gaza surviving a three-week Israeli ground and air operation that killed a number of its key leaders including Interior Minister Said Siam and the head of Hamas' security organization in Gaza, Salah Abu Sharah.

Why then, should it be concluded that Russia got more out of its war in Georgia than Israel did out of its operations in Gaza?

First, despite plunging global oil prices that could threaten bankruptcy for the Russian state, Russia remains the supreme military power in the Eurasian land mass.

Only China could seriously challenge it in a land war, and Russian-Chinese relations, while cautious, are certainly friendly and stable. By launching its armed forces into a neighboring former Soviet republic when the U.S. government of President George W. Bush never thought it would, Russia's leaders changed the power calculus throughout Central Europe and Central Asia. Every former Soviet republic in Central Asia is now walking a lot more carefully around Russia. And nations like Ukraine, which is also led by a strongly pro-Western leader, President Viktor Yushchenko, are now forced to take Russian threats and pressure a lot more seriously.

Second, the Russia invasion led to the increasing isolation of Georgia for the Western allies it had courted. The major Western European nations of Germany, France, Spain and Italy had already opposed U.S. efforts to bring Georgia into the NATO alliance at a summit in Bucharest, Romania, before the invasion last year. The Russian military operation left that opposition carved in stone. And the election of new U.S. President Barack Obama with his stated purposed of reducing tensions with Russia means that Georgia will have to try and seek Moscow's goodwill if it wants to retain Washington's too.

Israel, like Russia, used its most recent mini-war to restore its regional military reputation. The Russian army's performance in Georgia was vastly superior to that in the two Chechen wars it has fought over the past 15 years. And the Israel Defense Forces were far more formidable in the Gaza operation than they were against Hezbollah in July 2006.

However, despite Israel's tactical success in Gaza, which clearly took Hamas entirely buy surprise, the Israelis failed to evict Hamas from the densely populated enclave of 1.4 million people. Hamas, like Saakashvili in Georgia, survived to fight another day.

But the Russian invasion of Georgia left Saakashvili weakened and on the defensive. The Israeli invasion of Gaza, although it killed some prominent Hamas leaders, weakened moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Isabel Kershner of The New York Times reported that Hamas had made huge gains in popularity at Abbas' expense and now looked quite likely to win the West Bank elections scheduled to be held within the next year.

Wars are fought at the tactical level but won at the strategic and political level. The Russians won tactically in Georgia just as the Israelis did in Gaza. But at the strategic level, Russia is doing far better on Georgia than Israel is on Gaza.

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