The war in South Ossetia resulted in a reconsideration of US policy towards the post-soviet space. 

"America learnt that the level of involvement they would like to have in places like the South Caucasus and more broadly in the former Soviet Union will no longer be uninhibited and there will always be consequences," said Lincoln Mitchell, professor of international politics at Columbia University. 

Watch video at 

http://russiatoday.ru/Politics/2009-08-07/ossetia-war-us-media.html