Did McCain's Camp Spur Georgia to Act Recklessly?

Did rhetoric from people surrounding John McCain spur the Republic to push an envelope with Russia over South Ossetia?  

A New York Times  reporter finds a professor that has some suspicions.

I have some suspicions ex myself especially about the timing of this crisis developing just as Senator Obama leaves for a vacation, so John McCain has little competition explaining how it's all Russia's fault.

Excerpt New York Times report "War Puts Focus on McCain’s Hard Line on Russia ":

His hard line has been derided as provocative, and possibly dangerous, by some so-called realist foreign policy experts, who warn that isolating Russia would do little to encourage it to change.

...

Charles King, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and the author of “The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus,” said that rhetoric like Mr. McCain’s might have spurred Georgia to act unwisely. “It hurts because it has encouraged Georgia to try to push maximalist positions — ‘We’ve got to get this territory back at all costs, and if we get it back, the United  States will support us,’ ” Dr. King said.  

tags: georgia  south ossetia  russia  john mccain  

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