"ROAD TO WAR IN GEORGIA"

I think this Spiegel Online piece tends to support Michael Totten. But still a lot of blame to spread around--and note this, giving a pretext for Russian action:

[...]

Putin, meanwhile, watched and waited -- he wanted to see how the Kosovo question would turn out. He made it clear that if the ethnic Albanian province was granted the right to secede from Serbia, the West could not deny Abkhazia and South Ossetia the right to secede from Georgia. On Feb. 17, 2008, the United States, Great Britain and France recognized Kosovo's independence...

Mark C.

Update: More from STRATFOR (via a friend):

Georgia and Kosovo: A Single Intertwined Crisis

Posted by markc at August 27, 2008 07:01 PM