I think it's pretty obvious Saakashvili thought the US would back him to the hilt (whoops!), but as to whether this was actually instigated by Washington? It's possible, but I kind of doubt it.
--- On Sun, 8/10/08, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> The U.S. has been supplying military aid to Georgia for
> years. And add
> to that the fact that McCain's top foreign policy
> advisor has been a
> paid lobbyist for Georgia, and you might think the
> Georgians thought
> they had at least a green light to go for it.
>
> Doug
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk