Sometimes we need the Economist

That point is the extraordinary myopia of a line much-written by the European press in recent days: that the European Union has ended up in charge of the Georgia crisis, because the United States is so "distracted" by the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and by the weakness of a lame-duck administration.

From the often useful Certain Ideas of Europe blog tucked inside The Economist site somewhere.

A weakened, distracted America has just promised a billion dollars (€700m) in aid for Georgia with about half of that earmarked for "fast-track" delivery, sent two warships to Georgia bearing humanitarian relief supplies, and is about to send the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the 6th Fleet, into the Black Sea. It has also sent the vice president, as mentioned above.

Even more here.