What's the Matter With Georgia?

Der Spiegel has a bombshell on a European investigation into the Russian-Georgian war:

According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the television appearance by [Georgian] General Kurashvili plays a key role in the investigation. His remarks indicate that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was not repelling "Russian aggression," as he continues to claim to this day, but was planning a war of aggression.

This is because Kurashvili may have been quoting directly from Order No. 2 from Aug. 7, a Georgian document that could shed light on the question of who started the war. When the commission questioned the Russian deputy head of the general staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, in Moscow, he quoted from the very same Georgian order. According to Nogovitsyn, the document also contained the phrase "reestablishment of constitutional order." If the order, which Russian intelligence intercepted, is authentic, it would prove that Saakashvili lied.

The Georgian government still refuses to show the controversial decree to the commission. Officials in Tbilisi argue that they cannot do this because the document is a state secret.

Perhaps it's no surprise that the government of Georgia is splurging on American PR and lobbying firms.

It's also worth remembering that before the dust had even settled on this conflict, many powerful figures in Washington had already decided that this was firm evidence of Russian revanchism and (what else) a replay of the 1930s with Putin in the role of Hitler, testing the resolve of the West.

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Mikheil Saakashvili, President Elect of Georgia, answers questions at a press conference at the Annual Meeting 2004 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2004. Via CC License.