MCCLATCHY: U.S. knew Georgia trouble was coming, but couldn’t stop it: “Bush administration officials, worried by what they saw as a series of provocative Russian actions, repeatedly warned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to avoid giving the Kremlin an excuse to intervene in his country militarily, U.S. officials said Monday.” It would be better if those “sources” were named, but then that’s gone out of style in general, apparently.

Meanwhile, an intelligence embarrassment? “The question is, how the hell did US intelligence assets miss the Russian Black Sea fleet movements? How did they miss the massive transport job of the troops and their logistical tail? They did not just materialize in position.”