Nothing to do with the US

The gloriously apocalyptic Nouriel Roubini blames the US for the war between the US and Georgia.

While on military terms the US is still the only superpower even its military power is now restricted by imperial overstretch and its armed forces being bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan; thus, Russia has now been able to flex its muscle in its Central Asian backyard and humiliated the US – not just Georgia – in the latest conflict on South Ossetia. For the Bush administration having supported Georgia by words only and show its impotence – or unwillingness - to support an ally in spite of the administration push to have Georgia join NATO shows the limits of the American power. The US is at fault for effectively letting Georgia start a reckless attack on South Ossetia.

So, the US is at fault both because it cannot stop Georgia from attacking Russia, and cannot stop Russia from retaliating against the Georgian attack. Got that?

Maybe, just maybe, the Russia/Georgia war has nothing to do with the US. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Saakashvili is a hot-headed, militaristic leader, who signed a peace treaty with South Ossetia recently, and then decided to invade it anyway. It's not like countries in that area aren't known for being hot-headed and militaristic (Does no one remember Ajara? or Abashidze?)

And not only is Saakashvili militaristic and hot-headed, he's also incompetent. Why is the Roki Tunnel not a cooling pile of rubble? Did he honestly think that the US, or Europe, would send in troops to fight Russia? This guy should be literally or figuratively fired.

I don't mean to leave Putin out of the picture. Maybe another factor in this war is that Putin likes to fight when he can win, but he also likes to fight just for the hell of it.