Difference between Russia's invasion of 'sovereign' Georgia, and Israel's invasion of 'sovereign' Lebanon?

Question

A couple years ago, Israel invaded Lebanon because Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. The result was a near full scale invasion into a sovereign neighbor to 'punish' those responsible - it killed hundreds of civilians. The US refused to condemn the attacks and only urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties. Now, Georgia has invaded a break away province loyal to Russia, and Russia responded to 'punish' the aggressors. In this case, the US immediately condemned Russia for the attacks. Both the invaded countries are democratically elected and both have pro-US governments in place.

So, besides the obvious political ties, what's the difference that I'm not seeing? You can't destroy civilian cities, as Israel did, to try and reach a handful of militants, so that can't be an excuse.

Answer 1

Israel is a much better ally to the US than Russia.  That's it.  The US is more careful not to upset Israel than Russia, as it has already had a cold war with the Soviets and doesn't have longstanding 'good' relationships in the first place.  Furthermore, Georgia is a much better ally to the US than Lebanon was at the time, which was undergoing a civil war more or less.  I guess you're mostly right that there is really little difference other than geopolitics, although Georgia did launch a more daunting offensive against the Russians in South Ossetia than Lebanon did in capturing Israeli troops.

Answer 2

Terrorists from allegedly sovereign Lebanon breached the international border and kidnapped Israeli soldiers, so Israel attacked Lebanon.

Later, terrorists from allegedly sovereign Lebanon lobed hundreds of missiles into Israel, so Israel invaded Lebanon in order to stop it.

The situation in Georgia is different -

Russia arms the separatist regions in Georgia in order to take control of the oil route. Georgia wanted to to exercise its sovereignty on Ossetia (which is part of Georgia, mind you) and then Russia attacked them.

Answer 3

No, Lebanon had no breakaway province.  But we still should have spoken against the incursion.  But the analogy that works better is Kosovo.  We supported nationhood for the breakaway province of Kosovo against the wishes of Russia and China.  Now Russia is saying "you like breakaway provinces?  We got breakaway provinces!"  It's not that we were wrong to support Kosovo; it's just that we did it undiplomatically and rubbed Russia's face in it.  Now Russia claims they are just following our precedent.

Answer 4

Different condition. Different situation. You can't compare like that.