Johanna Neuman asks, "Where's Condi?"

Blogging for the LA Times, Johanna Neuman wonders why Condi is so lethargic about responding the the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Rice, a former Stanford professor specializing on the Soviet Union, is oddly absent from public view.
...
Rice went to Tbilisi, Georgia, in July, trying to calm the situation ... Publicly, she talked about Georgia's "territorial integrity." State Department officials said she privately warned the Georgians not to provoke Russia.

But critics told the Wall Street Journal that Rice may not have responded quickly to Russia's muscle-flexing on Georgia's border because she has been focused elsewhere -- preoccupied with Iraq, Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict -- and delegated the Soviet account to more junior officials.

Or maybe there was "nothing actionable" in the intelligence reporting, just like in the August 6 pdb.

She is 3 1/2 years into the job and she can't deal with more than one country at a time? Even after she just went to Georgia in July? That is a strange kind of preoccupation. Who are those critics?

Again, if she delegated the issue, why didn't she delegate the trip?

Either she is happy with what the Russians and Georgians are doing, or she is clueless about what to do. Guess where my money is.