He gives them too much credit

Vladimir Putin accuses Bush of provoking Georgia conflict to help John McCain. “It is not just that the American side could not restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal act. The American side in effect armed and trained the Georgian army,” Mr Putin said.

“Why spend years holding difficult negotiations and looking for complicated compromises in ethnic conflicts? It’s easier to arm one of the parties and push it to kill the other party, and the job is done.

“The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US President.” [Times Online]

I might buy that if Clinton was still President, but really, what in the past eight years suggests that the Bush Administration is even capable of that sort of advanced planning? The very idea is absurd.