[nickcarraway]

That was Bush’s way of flirting with Putin. It worked, Putin is leaving his wife to be with Bush.

[Southack]

Idiotic article.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Replace Saakashvili with al-Maliki or Karzai, and Georgia with Iraq or Afghanistan and the essay reads the same.

[spetznaz]

Saakashvili got played for a fool. Maybe it was Putin who baited him. Maybe it was Bush who made him think the US would go to war with Russia over Georgia. Most probably it was Saakashvili's own delusions and misinterpretations. Whatever the trigger, he got played, did exactly what Russia wanted him to do when he shelled the Russian 'peacekeepers' triggering a reaction. Of course the US was never going to step in ...it was 2008 and not 1968 when the US could be expected to step in. The US was never going to do anything beyond making supportive statements for Georgia.

Result?

Goergia loses 20% of its sovereign territory.

[MarMema]

We now know that the war was triggered by Saakashvili’s decision to attack the South Ossetian town of Tskhinvali in a doomed attempt to reconquer the province>

We know nothing of the kind except that Putin pushed this as his propaganda. I recall seeing video which showed otherwise, but even so - those in the South Ossetian town were continually sending missiles into Georgia and kidnapping children.

This is rather like blaming Israel for going into Palestine to knock out some terrorists.

[MarMema]

The first mistake that the Bush administration made in its handling of Georgia was the promotion of the new Georgian government as a model of both political and economic reform and the celebration of Saakashvili as a democrat.

Compared to Shevie the scum/russian puppet, actually Misha was exactly this. Everything is relative.

As I recall Bush always said Georgia was his favorite country outside the US. He loved it there.