Georgia?

So I consider myself at least somewhat well-informed when it comes to international news and stuff...even more so after spending most of my summer on Google News in one way or another. But I still do not get what happened in Georgia...mostly because I am damn sure that the media is over-simplifying everything like they always do. My gut reaction (just from what I know about Russia's leadership) is that Russia overstepped its bounds in getting involved, or were just following through on a plan to get heavily involved at the slightest provocation. That opinion was kinda solidified when Russia claimed to have "pulled out" of Georgia, yet they still maintain presence in some of the big areas of the country. I just don't really know what this means...is Russia trying to reclaim parts of its sphere of influence (I personally wouldn't put it past Putin to do something like that), does it want more power in certain regions, or is it trying to quiet some of the problem areas in Russia itself (Chechnya, for example)? In my mind (which is probably over-simplifying too), I think the U.S. would have been pretty pissed to see Britain coming in during our Civil War and offering the South the ability to rejoin their "Mother Country." So following that logic, I think Georgia, at the very least, has a right to be pissed off as hell at Russia. Just my two cents into a conflict that, seriously, I don't understand all that well.