Now that the Russians have split the country in half and there are no signs of them stopping, recriminations are ringing loud and clear, and most are pointing to the White House.

Mr Saakashvilli may also have banked on support from his closest ally, US president George W Bush, whose administration is said to have given tacit support for a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in the believe that the territory could be recaptured within 48 hours.

If true this is a foreign policy blunder that dwarfs anything we have seen since the end of World War II.

This is not to say everything should be pointed toward the Bush administration. Saakashvilli has been playing the cat-and-mouse game on a tight rope with the Russians ever since the Velvet Revolution.

The criminal incompetence of the administration, further drugged on their Iraq folly, has jettisoned fairly reasonable policy for something that patently does not work. It is like they believe their own jingoism, that tough talking, tightrope walking democrats are RIGHT and should be defended. Unless, of course, if they get their asses handed to them. Then all bets are off.