Something's not right in Georgia

There's more going on in the Caucasus region then we're being told. Why would Georgia, a small nation, decide to bitch slap the Russian bear?

The Georgians had to have known they had no chance militarily against the Russians? They knew that Putin would react! Swiftly and harshly! So what's going on here?

Here are some of the facts:

• Georgia is a big ally of the US.
• Georgia and the US are trying to get Georgia into NATO
• Putin and the Russians see NATO (in this post cold war era) as a military threat to Russia
• The US and Georgia completed joint military exercises in Georgia just a few days ago
• Russia conducted "anti-terrorist" exercises just across the Georgian border a few day ago
• There is a major oil pipeline going through Georgia that supplies oil to Israel
• Georgia attacked first, going after civilians in the separatist regions that are friendly to Russia.

Those are some weird facts, that don't add up. I really don't have an hypothesis of why this is going down, but it's troubling to me. Somebody pushed somebody into a stupid, losing conflict for some reason that's yet to be seen.

I may be wrong, I hope so, but this doesn't feel like just a passing regional conflict. I think we all should watch it closely to see what develops.