A Fateful Underestimation

Mr Saakashvili, who took office in 2004 promising to restore Georgian rule over South Ossetia, appeared to have misjudged Moscow’s resolve, perhaps calculating that Vladimir Putin would not dare to respond militarily while he was in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. ~The Times

The situation in Georgia is tragic and terrible, and I hope that hostilities will cease as quickly as they began.  Even so, there is some small satisfaction in seeing this lackey Saakashvili have his comeuppance.  To have demonstrated so clearly and unequivocally that democratization is not a substitute for good government, the “color” revolutions are a sham and NATO expansion is dangerous and foolish in one day is something good that has come out of this.  It is something that may help Westerners to avoid making the same enthusiastic mistakes of the past.  If this conflict helps to drive home that recognizing Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence was a major blunder with grave consequences for other parts of the world, it may not have been entirely destructive.