"but nobody has offered any explanation why Saakashvili behaved as he did. "

Actually, there have been several explainations.

Georgia was reacting to the South Ossetian shelling of the Gerogian posts, after the ceasefire of Aug 7.


Can I start shelling your house, and expect you to do nothing about it?

BTW, the RUSSIANs has been bulding up their forces for the previsous several weeks, and had already spent two weeks in cyberattacks against Georgia, shutting down the Georgian government internet capability.

BEFORE the Georgian attack of 8 August.