Russian troops near Khurcha in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia, Aug. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Vladimir Popov)

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Russian forces rolled south into the heart of Georgia on Sunday, pressing the attack against the former Soviet republic and U.S. ally in the heart of the Caucasus.

The move is Russia’s first use of military force beyond its borders since the Soviet Union fell, and observers around the world are trying to decipher what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wants.

Some see a neo-czarist Russia bent on restoring its power. Others see Russia responding to the encroachments, and humiliations, of NATO and the U.S. One thing is clear: Russia has changed the game.

This hour, On Point: Russia goes to war.

- Jane Clayson, guest host

* * *

Guests:

Anne Barnard, reporter for The New York Times in Moscow.

Masha Lipman, editor of the journal Pro et Contra published by the Carnegie Moscow Center and an expert in the Center’s Civil Society Program.

Robert Kagan, contributing editor at The Weekly Standard, op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, and author of “The Return of History and the End of Dreams.” His column in today’s Post is “Putin Makes His Move.”

Stephen Sestanovich, senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, professor of international diplomacy at Columbia University, and author of “Russia’s Wrong Direction: What the United States Can and Should Do.”