Umm, Putin isn't in charge anymore. On paper, which is as good as it gets until he's dead. However, it is flatly incorrect to say nobody in Russia likes him; overall, they like him a hell of a lot. He's damn close to an object of worship to a significant chunk of the Russian population.
I'd also dispute that Russia's industrial capacity can outpace the US. Even at their best (and with significantly more territory) they couldn't do that; there's not much chance of Russia returning to superpower status soon, but what they are doing is returning to Great Power status and regional hegemon; in honesty, that's been the norm for a long time and is likely to continue to be, with the situation since the fall of the SU more an aberration than any new status quo.
As for protesting, the fact remains that Georgia was the unquestioned aggressor in the conflict and that they killed Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. They are not good guys, and if the Russians let them walk into a trap, it's a trap they walked into with eyes open (since as you say, it would be utterly impossible for the US not to know of Russia's military buildup in the region, and the Georgians as an American ally would therefore also know of it). Georgia probably hoped to do a little better on the ground, or perhaps they didn't, since their only real hope in this situation (unless they had delusional ideas about the incompetence of the Russians) is to get world opinion and American might on their side and win in the long-term by forcing the Russians to back down. The Russians, meanwhile, rely on the fact they were rightly confident they could stomp Georgia (an important thing for the prestige of the Russian military after the dragging through the mud its good name took since the fall of the SU) and the fact that America is powerless to send enough men and material in to prop up Georgia and Europe is impotent as long as they rely on Russian energy exports. They are also relying on the precedent the West set in Kosovo to say that Georgia is just as divisible as Serbia was.
There is also the rather obvious fact that Georgia has been trying to get in NATO, which is a strategically unacceptable situation for Russia and one they can almost not help but take strong measures against, much like the Ukraine.
All of this doesn't answer the basic question - which side are you supposed to be cheering for? Are we supposed to protest that one state thuggishly invaded a breakaway portion, killed soldiers of another state that were guarding same, and then promptly got their asses stomped in a retaliatory strike? Russia won't annex Georgia; that sort of thing just isn't done anymore. They've already demanded the resignation of their leader and will presumably present South Ossetia's Russian-sponsored independence as a fait accompli. That isn't quite making Georgia a Russian client state - what it is is a message of "being buddies with the Americans will not protect you". Unless they can mobilise a widespread condemnation of Russia's actions and sanctions with real teeth (which is unlikely to happen for the reasons above), Georgia will have to accept that reality - and will likely cut a deal that means they shut up about NATO in exchange for being left alone. They gambled; they lost. It happens in geopolitics.
Ultimately, I'm not sure what anybody would be protesting with the situation as it currently is. "Russia did it; therefore it's evil" seems to be a widespread belief which I no more accept than I do "America did it; therefore it's evil".
I'd also dispute that Russia's industrial capacity can outpace the US. Even at their best (and with significantly more territory) they couldn't do that; there's not much chance of Russia returning to superpower status soon, but what they are doing is returning to Great Power status and regional hegemon; in honesty, that's been the norm for a long time and is likely to continue to be, with the situation since the fall of the SU more an aberration than any new status quo.
As for protesting, the fact remains that Georgia was the unquestioned aggressor in the conflict and that they killed Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. They are not good guys, and if the Russians let them walk into a trap, it's a trap they walked into with eyes open (since as you say, it would be utterly impossible for the US not to know of Russia's military buildup in the region, and the Georgians as an American ally would therefore also know of it). Georgia probably hoped to do a little better on the ground, or perhaps they didn't, since their only real hope in this situation (unless they had delusional ideas about the incompetence of the Russians) is to get world opinion and American might on their side and win in the long-term by forcing the Russians to back down. The Russians, meanwhile, rely on the fact they were rightly confident they could stomp Georgia (an important thing for the prestige of the Russian military after the dragging through the mud its good name took since the fall of the SU) and the fact that America is powerless to send enough men and material in to prop up Georgia and Europe is impotent as long as they rely on Russian energy exports. They are also relying on the precedent the West set in Kosovo to say that Georgia is just as divisible as Serbia was.
There is also the rather obvious fact that Georgia has been trying to get in NATO, which is a strategically unacceptable situation for Russia and one they can almost not help but take strong measures against, much like the Ukraine.
All of this doesn't answer the basic question - which side are you supposed to be cheering for? Are we supposed to protest that one state thuggishly invaded a breakaway portion, killed soldiers of another state that were guarding same, and then promptly got their asses stomped in a retaliatory strike? Russia won't annex Georgia; that sort of thing just isn't done anymore. They've already demanded the resignation of their leader and will presumably present South Ossetia's Russian-sponsored independence as a fait accompli. That isn't quite making Georgia a Russian client state - what it is is a message of "being buddies with the Americans will not protect you". Unless they can mobilise a widespread condemnation of Russia's actions and sanctions with real teeth (which is unlikely to happen for the reasons above), Georgia will have to accept that reality - and will likely cut a deal that means they shut up about NATO in exchange for being left alone. They gambled; they lost. It happens in geopolitics.
Ultimately, I'm not sure what anybody would be protesting with the situation as it currently is. "Russia did it; therefore it's evil" seems to be a widespread belief which I no more accept than I do "America did it; therefore it's evil".