Georgia Is the Victim, So Blame Russia

Why blame Georgia for Russia's invasion when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is clearly at fault? Putin has been seething ever since pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in Georgia 3 years ago, writes Matthew Continetti in The Weekly Standard. "Putin has been pressuring Georgia for years," writes Continetti, shelling Georgia with bureaucratic and economic attacks while bolstering troops in the region.

Russia even attacked villages under Georgian control last year and blocked UN attempts to investigate. Russian computers then hacked into Georgian networks. Finally—at least according to Saakashvili—a Georgian peace convoy to South Ossetia gave Russia its excuse to attack. "Whatever the precise sequence of events," writes Continetti, "nothing Saakashvili did provided a reason for Putin to invade Georgia proper."
(More Georgia stories.)