Kevin Drum thinks the war in Georgia was a net loss for Putin because "the countries on Russia's border are more firmly in our camp now than they were even before the war."
I'm not sure how to tally everything up, but I'd add that the war pushed Georgia into America's popular consciousness for probably the first time ever. It's been transformed from an obscure absurdistan to a country with a compelling narrative. That alone seems like a change in Tblisi's favor.
--Barron YoungSmith