Putin didn't have a problem invading Georgia on Bush's watch. North Korea didn't have any problem letting off nukes either. Saddam didn't have any problem letting of chemical weapons during Reagan.
Georgia fucked up by invading thier breakaway regions. Putin had massive justification to invade/defend, unlike in Ukraine which was an opportunistic land grab
Those weren't nukes, they were gigantic piles of TNT big enough to eff with telemetry systems