As the Russia-Georgia conflict escalates, Masha Lipman and Bob Kagan analyze the catalyst for this clash on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. While both agree that the crisis indicates a greater Russian ambition than simply annexing South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Lipman and Kagan disagree over what originally prompted the conflict.
Lipman argues that, “There is no doubt that Georgia has started it” and calls the original Georgian strikes, “a very bad miscalculation." Kagan on the other hand sees Russia as the main driver for the events that have now unfolded. He says, “Putin has been putting pressure on Georgia for years,” and that, “everyone was hoping that Saakashvili would tolerate this indefinitely.”
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