When the South Ossetian rebels escalated their artillery barges on Georgian towns, could President Saakashvili have contained it instead of sending an invasion force? It is sad because the economic damaged that the Russian boycott did was reversed by opening new market access to Europe and US. That was Saakashvili’s doing and should be commended for it. One has to wonder why he would gamble this recent economic success with invading South Ossetia? Was the escalating artillery barges that bad? Or was he duped? The good thing is that Georgia is still standing so their economy should keep flowing.
> Destroying Democracy
Never mind. I thought this was a piece on Democrats.
Saakashvili miscalculated. He assumed that a show of force in destroying the illegal Ossetian artillary positions and cutting off the Ossetia “capitol” would force Putin to back down. This was terminally foolish.