Although the fighting over South Ossetia is not over, and fighting for another Georgian enclave, Abkhazia, looks like developing, it is perhaps not too early to learn some tentative lessons from the crisis.
The recognition of independence for Kosovo raises serious questions of international law as well as sensitive diplomatic difficulties.
The United States and many European Union countries accept that Kosovo should no longer be formally part of Serbia.
They will recognise a limited form of independence for Kosovo, as recommended in a report drawn up for the UN by the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
