How seriously should we (citizens) take the Russia/Georgia war?

These recent events lead me to wonder if our "victory" in the Cold War was even a victory at all. All it gave us was one awesome decade and a new century that just gets worse and worse.

I think this is just the beginning of a long-term confrontation with Russia, one that will be peppered with small, short-term wars of freakish intensity. Its going to make us miss the Cold War.

We need to be very concerned.