What did the "August War" demonstrate?

The Russian Institute of Strategic Studies held an international conference "Geopolitical results of the "August War": Lessons and Challenges." The purpose of the event was to reach a better understanding of the results of the "August War" in 2008, of the current state of Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Russian relations, as well as of various political trends in the Greater Caucasus. The August war in South Ossetia ended a while ago, and now it is time to draw some conclusions. Professor of the North Ossetian State University (Vladikavkaz) Albert Dudayti and Assistant to the Director of AP RSO (Tskhinvali) Inal Pliev commented on the results of the "five-day" war and talked about how it has affected and will affect the future balance of power in the region. "The conference raised questions of global geo-strategy and geopolitics, as it is clear that South Ossetia and Georgia, as well as Russia are not in a vacuum, they operate in the macro-region of the Greater Caucasus. Everybody there is interconnected and among the major players in this arena is not only our state, but also other major regional powers such as Turkey, for example, and Iran. This has also been discussed," the head of the sector of Caucasus Studies RISS Yana Amelina said. The Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of North Ossetia Khadzhimurat Gatsalov, in turn, considers the main result of the past five years to be the change in the geopolitical situation in the Caucasus due to Russian recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.