Pushing Russia’s Buttons

The method Russia seems to be using in gaining its objective of restoring the Soviet Union is to separate a piece from another country and then move in its ???piecekeepers??? to keep that piece for itself.
In conclusion, the international community should make plans for reacting to the next Russian attack on its neighbour. The present reaction is inadequate since Russian forces are still moving deeper into Georgia. The next attack will come since the invasion of Georgia is premeditated and part of a bigger plan (Robert Kagan???s Aug. 11 article in The Washington Post). There are also plenty of ???frozen conflict??? opportunities that Russia can warm up ??? Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Eastern Ukraine that is mainly Russian-speaking, Transdniestria in Moldova, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania (access rights for example), the mainly Russian-speaking Ida-Virumaa region of Estonia.

Well of course. The United States for decades has armed one side or another of a dozen conflicts around the globe, and most of these blow up on our faces. The reason we have a problem with Iran today is because of the Islamic Revolution - a reaction to the U.S. installed Shah. The reason we're in Iraq was to overthrow Saddam Hussein, a puppet we created to oppose the Iranians. The reason we're in the war on terror is to contain Osama Bin Laden, a man we trained to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Someone needs to step back and ask whether what we do in the world - i.e. having our CIA engineer political results, is working. Now here we are in Georgia, having armed, trained and encouraged this buffoon Saakashvili, who decided he'd shell civilians in a surprise attack, and throw grenades into basements full of children in the morning hours before the Olympics. And no doubt American weapons were used to start this genocide. How can any reasonable person say that we did not ENABLE this to happen? Isn't it time we re-evaluated our policies regarding foreign meddling? From what I can see we've done nothing but create new enemies in the world, cause untold thousands of deaths, saddle three generations of US taxpayers with the cost of rebuilding countries we should have never been in. All the while we keep telling ourselves "its normal" for us to have 700 military bases around the world in over 100 different countries and we refuse to deal with the fact we're being lied to by our leaders about why we're there and what we're doing. We're in Georgia now because of the PIPELINE and because we want to poke Russia in the eye. If it had anything to do with moral considerations, we'd be backing the South Ossetians for independence. Isn't freedom for everybody? Or is it only appropriate for problematic states we have an interest cannibalizing, or tearing it from someone else's economic sphere?

Some questions to Russia-bashers:
1. Do you suggest that Georgia's sneak Olympic night attack on a sleepy town full of Russian civilians never happened? Do you suggest that Russian casualties, civilian and military, were anything but substantial that night? I've seen no news outlet to deny that; not even Mikheil Saakashvili, despite his record of chain lying, denied it, as far as I see from Western MSM.
2. Do you suggest any self-respecting country would not come to the aid of its nationals? How many Russians have to die before it is OK to send in the cavalry?
3. How come you deem Russia's response disproportionate given the official Georgian body count of 175 dead?
4. Would you call a Georgian president ostensibly re-elected on a 52% vote a 'democratically elected leader' despite well-documented electoral fraud? Would you believe Texas voting 90% Obama, the way some Armenian-populated regions 'voted' for Saakashvili, although ethnic Armenians hate his guts?

Where are you, President Bush and Senator McCain? Why, Messrs. Bush/McCain, did you allow this situation to develop with Russia brutally attacking a U.S. ally and bombing civilian targets while our President partied with Putin at the Olympics? Now we hear tough words from the two of you. Yet it was apparent since the Rose revolution in 2004 that this area was a tinderbox and needed to be watched closely -- meaning before Russia attacked Georgia. Is this the way to spread democracy, by abandoning a U.S. ally while celebrating with Putin in Beijing? Even today after the cease fire was made, Russian tanks and paramilitaries nonetheless rolled into the Georgian city of Gori violating the truce. "Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, "We are all Georgians now,"" Georgian president Saakashvili said on CNN"s American Morning. "Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it"s time to pass from ... words to deeds." Georgia has been an area to watch carefully especially after the Rose Revolution brought pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili to power in 2004. How could you miss this? Moscow has strongly opposed Georgia's efforts to become part of NATO. How could you two men not know this? While our president partied with Putin, you allowed Russia to attack a U.S. ally, which was close to becoming a member of NATO, under cover of Olympic festivities. Senator, is this the "experience" that you believe qualifies you to be President?

Where are you, President Bush and Senator McCain? Why, Bush/McCain, did you allow this situation to develop with Russia brutally attacking a U.S. ally and bombing civilian targets while our President partied with Putin at the Olympics? Now we hear tough words from the two of you. Yet it was apparent since the Rose revolution in 2004 that this area was a tinderbox and needed to be watched closely -- meaning before Russia/Putin invaded Georgia. Is this the way to spread democracy, by abandoning a U.S. ally while celebrating with Putin in Beijing? Even today after the cease fire was made, Russian tanks and paramilitaries nonetheless rolled into the Georgian city of Gori violating the truce. "Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, "We are all Georgians now,"" Georgian president Saakashvili said on CNN"s American Morning. "Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it"s time to pass from ... words to deeds." Georgia has been an area to watch carefully especially after the Rose Revolution brought pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili to power in 2004. How could you miss this? Moscow has strongly opposed Georgia's efforts to become part of NATO. How did you two men not know this? While our president partied with Putin, you allowed Russia to attack a U.S. ally, which was close to becoming a member of NATO, under cover of Olympic festivities. Senator, is this the kind of "experience" that you say qualifies you to be President?

I'm not worried. "Jingo John" McCain will slap those Russians down once he gets in office. Nuke'em, John.

We are all Iraqis, Chinese, Georgians, Americans, and them Micronesians too

Suckmyshwili told little Ossetia to saakashvili , but Mother Russia , Cut his Saakashvili in half. Saakashvilis daddy Bushy Bush told Mother Russia not to cut his sons Saakashvili off or he'd tell the world what kind of a Bitch she is. But Bushy Bush knows that without Mother Russia , he can't protect his behind from Armageddon from Iran.

China doesn't care it's got Olympics on the air.

Source: www.reuters.com

Sakashvilli is a Napoleonic Maniac and is getting what he Desrves and the Georgian Nation, should Oust him !!

No American, should Lay down their Flesh, Bone, Blood and Spirit, for sakashvilli or his Ambitious Regime, that set this whole Fiasco up, in the 1st place. Sakashvilli started this Strife, let him deal with the Consequences of his Actions !!!

Sakashvilli: Miscalculated what he Thought, America would do for him. He tried to get us involved in a Big Mess, knowing all the Issues America was confronting, Iraq, Afghanistan, Our World Standing, Domestic issues and so on. America should Realize now, that Sakashvilli is a Loose Canon, a Devious and Overly Ambitous Man, that will do Anything, for his own Political Ascention, above all else. No American should lay down their Lives for that Ruler or his People. It was "Unthinkable" that the Sakashvilli and his Georgian Nation thought that they could (Retake Osettia) with Russian Peace Keepers already established in Osettia , an with Reinforcements at it's very call !!!

Despite warnings by President George W. Bush for Russia to "Reverse the Course it appears to be on" and withdraw its Troops to avert a "Dramatic and Brutal Escalation" of Violence," U.S. military intervention in the small former Soviet republic is nearly unthinkable, analysts said on Monday.

There also is little Washington can do diplomatically to restrain the Russians, according to foreign policy experts.

"Let me say at this point that there are no good solutions. Either we have to try to remove them (the Russians) by force or accept a humiliating defeat," said Dimitri Simes, founding president of the Nixon Center in Washington.

"It is not a happy situation, and we did not have to have this situation, and I think the (Bush) Administration has Considerable Responsibility for that."

Georgian forces entered separatist South Ossetia last week, trying to retake the pro-Russian enclave that broke away in the 1990s. Moscow, which supports South Ossetia's independence, responded by sending its troops into Georgia proper.

Georgia has appealed for international intervention and pulled its battered forces back to defend the capital, Tbilisi, as Russian troops pushed deeper into its territory, ignoring Western pleas to halt.

Big Note: Simes said U.S. encouragement of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, one of Washington's staunchest allies, may have led him to believe he could Get Away With Military Action to (Take Back Control of South Osettia)

Source: www.reuters.com

Titled: US has very Few Options


The Bush administration has pushed hard for Georgia to join NATO, against European misgivings and Russian fury at the idea.

Big Note: "Saakashvili was discouraged from attacking Russian troops in South Ossetia but he clearly never was told point blank 'If you do it, you are on your own,'" said Moscow-born Simes, who was an informal adviser to President Richard Nixon.

'SAKASHVILLI'S, MISCALCULATION' !!!

Charles Kupchan of the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that U.S. encouragement may have made Saakashvili "miscalculate" and send Georgian troops into South Ossetia.

"I think in many respects Saakashvili got too close to the United States and the United States got too close to Saakashvili," Kupchan said. "It made him overreach, it made him feel at the end of the day that the West would come to his assistance if he got into trouble."

Bush told Russia on Monday to reverse course or risk jeopardizing relations with the United States.

But Washington has limited leverage over Moscow after years of strained relations on a range of issues from Iraq to the United States' insistence on placing missile defenses in Europe, the analysts said.

The next U.S. president will inherit that chilly relationship. Both presidential candidates -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- have called for diplomacy to resolve the conflict over Georgia's breakaway regions.

"When you have very thin relations, it doesn't give you a lot of diplomatic tools," said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. "There are not a lot of things in terms of U.S.-Russian cooperation that we can threaten to stop, that the Russians care about."

Source: www.thehuffingtonpost.com

The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin told CNN his country is seeking details on what started the fighting.

"We do not want to believe that the United States has given a green light to this adventurous act," he said. "But our American colleagues are telling us that they're investigating now what may have happened in the channels of communication for Mr. Saakashvili to have behaved in such a "RECKLESS MANNER."

President Bush, one day earlier, had called the Russian invasion unacceptable, and on Tuesday the Russian president assailed the West for supporting Georgia. "International law doesn't envision double standards," Medvedev said.

U.S. officials were focused on confirming a cease-fire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs.

"The Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

A U.S. senior defense official in Washington said the U.S. has decided to dump a major NATO naval exercise with Russia that was scheduled to begin Friday.

Georgia, which is pushing for NATO membership, borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia, which appears open to absorbing them.

Medvedev said Georgia must allow the provinces to decide whether they want to remain part of Georgia.

"Ossetians and Abkhaz must respond to that question taking their history into account, including what happened in the past few days," Medvedev said grimly.

Medvedev said Russian peacekeepers would stay in both provinces, even as Saakashvili said his government will officially designate them as occupying forces.

In Tbilisi, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza declined to say whether the U.S. would provide military support if Russia expands its assault.

Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets and bypassing Russia. The British oil company BP shut down one of three Georgian pipelines, saying it was a precaution.

I'm positive that Michael also is on the smae rhetoric bandwagon that we provoked OBL to bomb the Towers. Please do everyone a favor and leave America and go live in Russia, Cuba or anywhere else that suits you better. And take Pelosi with you.

Oh please Michael Hirsh has written in almost every one of his articles about foreign policy that we shouldn't have made waves or we should essentially hide under a rock. He is completely unrealistic. If America did that you think this wouldn't have happened? Russia would have taken more countries by now. Russia has been displaying aggressive behavior for years and using the 'American Threat' as propaganda to unite the Russian people. It's a typical communist strategy. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been doing the same thing. Hugo has said numerous times the US is ready to invade his country and will happen any moment. He???s got the people ready for war. We don't even have enough armament down there to take over a small town. Putin knows exactly what he is doing. He is sneaky, patient, ambitious, and dangerous. His ambitions need to be contained.

The parallel between Georgia and Taiwan is all too aptly drawn, and it brings to light an additional point of caution: while the US may do well to take a less antagonistic tone towards Russia, backing down entirely would send entirely the wrong message to other rising powers, namely China. If Russia is allowed to feel it can get away with attacking and then withdrawing from a sovereign, democratic nation just to prove a point, what???s to stop China from feeling it can use the same tactic to assert its clout by attacking Taiwan?