Resource Wars
I've been trying to research this Russia-Georgian bruhaha to figure out how exactly it started. The conventional wisdom among both political parties here in the US seems to be that Russia is the bad guy in all this, and Georgia is a poor little kid getting picked on by Putin. While that may be true, from what I can surmise, South Ossetia wanted to declare independence from Georgia, and Russia was supporting them with peacekeeping forces...on August 8th, Georgia invaded South Ossetia and killed Russian forces. Supplant America for Russia, and ask yourself what our response would've been? Not only would we have not given a "proportional" response, we would have obliterated the country, deposed the political leadership, and formed our own favorable Government.
But lets be real...all the bluster by McCain and others over this issue has nothing to do with freedom or democracy; its about oil. Specifically, the oil pipeline that runs through parts of Georgia that carries oil from the Caspian sea. The West wants it, Russia wants it, and surprise, we are fighting over it.
What really kind of scares me is this lingering feeling that if John McCain had been President when Russia responded to Georgia's aggression with even more aggression, we probably would've seen battalions of American forces on their way to Georgia to start a war with the Soviet Union. All this news makes me want to support aggressive domestic drilling just so we could stave off the imperialistic tendencies of some of our political leaders in the search for new sources of natural resources.
See Also: Bob Krumm who feels for the Georgian soldiers, and who compares Russia to Nazi Germany...because what would a political debate be without allusions to Hitler?
Update: McCain says, “I know I speak for all Americans when I tell [President Mikheil Saakashvili] that today, we are all Georgians.”
Talk about presumptuous...no, he doesn't speak for me. I'm not a Georgian, or an Iraqi, or an Israeli...I'm an American. This isn't a cut and dry situation, and we shouldn't reduce it down to good guys vs. bad guys; the world is more complex than a slogan on a bumper sticker.
5 comments:
Russia was doing more then providing peacekeeping. My wife and I discussed this yesterday, we treat the cold war as kind of joke now. We forget how serious it really was. If you think for a minute Putin has forgotten, you are mistaken. He pushed for the response he wanted and got it. He has a desire to spread Russian thought past their borders. What's to prevent him from applying the same logic to the Ukraine and other of the Balken countries? Oh yea, we'll call him from Hawii and talk about how this is unacceptable.
This is probably one of the scariest events in the psat 10 years. Tt could easily escalate.
Then again we've done this before so...Hungry comes to mind. But hey at least we're leading in Medals.
Right on target, Tc.
People that don't see the calculating evil in Putin are either blind or willfully stupid. He is still playing the Grand Chessgame.
This WILL result in the repression of the people of Georgia and probably the Ukraine. Don't expect any more overtures to the west from the small states. What this does is show Putin that he can invade at will as long as the nation is not a member of NATO.
Does no one remember his history? Jailing the press, killing opposition members, seizing businesses for his cronies, and effectively claiming the role of Dictator for Life? If Putin tells you water is wet, you better put your hand under the faucet to check. And yet, so many want to trust this thug because he opposes Bush.
Jim
History?
Do people not remember George H.W. promising NOT to expand NATO to Russia's borders . . . and Clinton and W both renegging on that promise. Russia is re-exerting itself in its sphere in what they feel is the reverse of (but moral equivalent of) NATO and Serbia . . . and there is very little we can do - and very little Europe is willing to do - about it. We are trying to put ICBM's in their back yard ferrcrissakes. We have backed them in a corner and they are re-asserting themselves on the back of $125/barrel oil. This is what you call unintended consequences (one of many). And yes . . . it is dead serious . . . much more serious than swashbuckling saber-rattling of the good ole cold war days.
Despite the yearning for many on the right for the moral certainty of the cold war (you = evil; me = good), geopolitics does not yield itself to such an easy "analysis." Realpolitik says we're behind the 8 ball in so many ways here that even if we wanted to do something we probably can't.
Very much behind the 8 ball. Putin learned from the mistakes of his predecesors and because of it he's much more financially secure then they ever were. The largest company in the world is Gazprom and try to get a look at their books or board of directors. Remember when the Ukraine was getting a little to democratic? Hey just raise the gas heating prices. This year its Belarus turn. Hey everybodies part of a free market. Thank god that we did have people who recognized that Russia is still potentially dangerous.
Is there anything we can do now. Probably not. But get ready for Ukraine to flip, and maybe a few others of those small countries.
Just thought I'd post the link to a petition which denounces Georgian aggression and the anti-Russian stance which has permeated the fascist Western media:
http://www.petitiononline.com/sga2008/petition.html
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