It's Girlfriday Rice to the rescue!

Crooks and Liars:

The Russia-Georgia conflict is getting worse.

Russia responded angrily to President Bush’s harsh words this morning about their handling of the situation in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where Russian and Georgian troops have been fighting since last week. ”We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action,” Lavrov said.

While the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, was meeting at Meiendorf Castle with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, Lavrov minced no words in his criticism of Bush’s remarks, calling it the work of “bad speech writers.”

It looks like Bush has sent Condi Rice to play piano for Putin and look into his soul.

He announced that he will send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Paris and then Tblisi to help negotiate the peace plan and to show the administration’s “unwavering support” for the Georgian government.

“The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” Bush said.