A 3 a.m. Moment

After Russia's invasion of Georgia, what now for the West?
At least for now, the smoke seems to be clearing from the Georgian battlefield. But the extent of the wreckage reaches far beyond that small country.
Telegraph.co.uk by John R Bolton 15 Aug 2008

Saying this may cause angst in Europe???s capitals, but now is the time to find out if Nato can withstand a potential renewed confrontation with Moscow, or whether Europe will cause Nato to wilt. Far better to discover this sooner rather than later, when the stakes may be considerably higher. If there were ever a moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall when Europe should be worried, this is it. If Europeans are not willing to engage through Nato, that tells us everything we need to know about the true state of health of what is, after all, supposedly a ???North Atlantic??? alliance.

Finally, the most important step will take place right here in the United States. With a Presidential election on November 4, Americans have an opportunity to take our own national pulse, given the widely differing reactions to Russia???s blitzkrieg from Senator McCain and (at least initially) Senator Obama. First reactions, before the campaigns??? pollsters and consultants get involved, are always the best indicators of a candidate???s real views. McCain at once grasped the larger, geostrategic significance of Russia???s attack, and the need for a strong response, whereas Obama at first sounded as timorous and tentative as the Bush Administration. Ironically, Obama later moved closer to McCain???s more robust approach, followed only belatedly by Bush.

In any event, let us have a full general election debate over the implications of Russia???s march through Georgia. Even before this incident, McCain had suggested expelling Russia from the G8; others have proposed blocking Russia???s application to join the World Trade Organisation or imposing economic sanctions as long as Russian troops remain in Georgia. Obama has assiduously avoided specifics in foreign policy ??? other than withdrawing speedily from Iraq ??? but that luxury should no longer be available to him. We need to know if Obama???s reprise of George McGovern???s 1972 campaign theme, ???Come home, America???, is really what our voters want, or if we remain willing to persevere in difficult circumstances, as McCain has consistently advocated. Querulous Europe should hope, for its own sake, that America makes the latter choice.

how fear mongering was that 3 am ad now? can someone make sure to tell barry that there is no *present* next to the Red Button? and that he won't be able to use *i pushed the wrong button* excuse? it's absolutely frightening that folks think that a week long celebrity tour counts as experience to handle Georgia and everything else. and c-i-c? he wants to see things on the round and doesn't visit out troops? this is madness. hello folks. see reality for what it is.

China and russia are the next super powers and I believe already are .. this country will never be able to face them militarily. They have the money, the weapons and man power.

All the red necks and warmongers out there who have never experience the horrors of war, be careful what you wish for.. The day missiles start falling on this country, it will be too late to wish for diplomacy and peace.

Is this a 3:00 a.m. Moment? George Bush clearly doesn't seem to think so - he sent Condi, and went on vacation. If this was a true crisis, he would be manufacturing stories about yellow cake, like he did with the last 3:00 a.m. Moment.

Russia's behavior in Georgia isn't much different than our behavior in Iraq. Bush knows it, Putin knows it, and McCain and Obama know it, too.

The only person who apparently doesn't know it is Sakashvilli.

Barack Obama is Right...

... FAILS

Barack Obama is Not the President of the USA

Neither is Mccain, though he has Direct Georgian Lobbyist Via an his Foreign Adviser, who was until, very recent a Georgia Lobbyist and Joe Lieberman, who are all Associated with Georgia.

Their Plan did not pan out, as Expected

The Bush Administration is Correct, in Diplomacy via Direct Negoiations, this has Happened TWICE, Iran and Now The Georgian & Russian Conflict.

Bush is Not going to Send Military Might in the Russian Region, that would be (Nuclear World war 1) plus our Military is Spread Thin as it is....

McCain would cause Nuclear World War...Simple and Plain.

Note: Since Obama has taken his much Desreved Vacation, its been Complaints, when he was in Europe and in Arabic Countries, Some of You complained and Now that its George W. Bush Jr. taking a (11 day Vacation) while in the Midst of a Crisis (Conflict) its No Problem and John McCain's old A$$ in Las vegas this past Weekend and Pretending as though he's in a leadership role, regarding the Georgian-Russian Conflict, when he clearly is Not...

Such a Glaring Double Standard, for a Man thats Not President yet.

Noting the comments I have no doubt the comments reflect a lack of knowledge of Soviet support to those who shelled Georgia provoking the Georgian response. I note the lack of knowledge of the timing of the so-called Russian military exercises that were being conducted just across the border so they would be ready to respond to any reaction from the Georgians to irregulars who were attacking Georgia.

Georgian President to McCain: Move ???from Words to Deeds???

This Maniac has got to be Kidding !!

Source: The CNN Political Ticker

Producer Peter Hamby

Note: This Maniac Sakashvilli has got to be Kidding Me !!

Sakashvilli Attacked and Killed Many Osettians Thursday Night, without Provocation....

He Started this Invasion, keep this in mind.

Keep in Mind...

1. Russia Supplies the USA with Gas & Oil.

2. Russia has the Largest Stockpile of Nuclear Weapons on Planet Earth !!

3. Russia also has one of the Largest Militaries On Earth !!

4. Russia and China are In Agreement on Most Foreign Policies and Performed Joint Military Excercises with China in Aug. of 2007.

5. Both Russia and China Together would be a Nuclear NightMare, Noone would WIN and we'd Jeopardize our Nation for Manaical Sakashavilli & Georgia...No Way !!

No American should lay down their Flesh, Blood, Bone and Spirit, for a Man Willfully Blind in Attacking a Seperated Province with Russian Peacekeepers within Osettia

Bush was taking his BeiJing Olympic Weekend when Georgia Attacked Osettia and was Standing and Stting next to Prime Minister Putin, he placed his words wisely having found out about the Georgian Attacks, that Our government call an Invasion !!!

Bush spoke Calm and was Diplomatic during his Olympic stay and when he got back to the USA, his statements became more Agressive, yet Diplomatic in tone.

French President Sarkozy Mediated earlier via his communications with the President and Condoleeza Rice.

More Tough Talk and More Direct Communication with All Parties involved in this (Conflict) not a Full Fledged War.

Saakashvilli is a Maniac and Not American should lay down their Flesh, Blood, Bone & Spirit, for that Small Government.

McCain is a Loyalist to this Country, his Foreign Leader is a Devout Georgia Lobbyist and Joe Lieberman is a One State Protectionist and its not the USA either. remember Joe liberman and the John McCain camp, saying, who would you want in a Crisis and that John McCain would Benefit, if a war Crisis Erupted...

This is a Terribly laid out plan and John McCain is going to LOSE....

Because The Bush Administration is Correct not to start (Nuclear World War 1) Especially over this Penny Ante Country called (Georgia)

You Ass Holes keep in Mind, that georgia is not Our (Southern Ga.) within the USA and John McCain is NOT PRESIDENT OF THE USA...

Like Obama said, "We only have One President at a Time" and as of Today, George W. Bush Jr. is taking an 11 Day Vacation, in the Mdst of this Badly Orchestrated (Conflict) in an Election Year.

Maybe Georgian President Saashaskavilli, should've waited until October 30th to cause such a Ruckus !!!

What role did McCain, Lieberman and Graham (along with Bush) have in pumping up Georgia's "confidence" to take actions in Osetia? Were Lieberman and Graham involved in Condi's talks this weekend in Georgia? Is that quite right?

Were Senators Lieberman and Graham involved in Condi's meetings in Georgia? Is that entirely appropriate? What role did John McCain and George Bush have in pumping up Georgia's confidence to take action in Osetia?

Georgian President to McCain: Move ???from Words to Deeds???

This Maniac has got to be Kidding !!

Source: The CNN Political Ticker

Producer Peter Hamby

Note: This Maniac Sakashvilli has got to be Kidding Me !!

Sakashvilli Attacked and Killed Many Osettians Thursday Night, without Provocation....

He Started this Invasion, keep this in mind.

Keep in Mind...

1. Russia Supplies the USA with Gas & Oil.

2. Russia has the Largest Stockpile of Nuclear Weapons on Planet Earth !!

3. Russia also has one of the Largest Militaries On Earth !!

4. Russia and China are In Agreement on Most Foreign Policies and Performed Joint Military Excercises with China in Aug. of 2007.

5. Both Russia and China Together would be a Nuclear NightMare, Noone would WIN and we'd Jeopardize our Nation for Manaical Sakashavilli & Georgia...No Way !!

No American should lay down their Flesh, Blood, Bone and Spirit, for a Man Willfully Blind in Attacking a Seperated Province with Russian Peacekeepers within Osettia

---------------------------------------------

(CNN) ??? Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Wednesday called for John McCain and other American leaders to do more for Georgia in their response to the conflict in his country.

"Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, 'We are all Georgians now,'" 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 this. From words to deeds."

McCain told a crowd in Pennsylvania yesterday that he had called Saakashvili to express solidarity with the people of Georgia, saying: "Today, we are all Georgians."

McCain's foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann a Long Time (Georgian Lobbyist) told reporters on the campaign plane Tuesday that McCain's remark "obviously meant a lot to Saakashvili personally, but more importantly the message it conveyed to the Georgian people in this really, time of unprecedented national emergency." Scheunemann said McCain and Saakashvili are friends who have speaking daily throughout the crisis.

But Saakashvili said action is more important than rhetoric in the face of "brutal" and "deliberate" Russian violence. He urged the United States to take the lead in installing an international peacekeeping force.

"We should realize what is at stake here for Americans," he said. "America is losing the whole region."

"What Americans should do know, first of all, clearly make known their intentions,"

"So far, Obama has been measured but perhaps reticent. McCain has been confident and aggressive"
You, Evan Thomas, of all people should be aware of what Putin thinks of McCains "confident and aggressive"...a paper tiger. A neo-con who has us streached so thin we couldn't do anything to stop the Russians, and he knows it. Better to have someone who "measures" his response based on facts and intentions then to allow Putin to force our hand and play into his.

If princes and kings resolved their differences by going to war up to the 18th century, how do we explain the
advancement of civilization since then when we now can go to war without having any differences to resolve.
We had no difference to resolve with Iraq, other than Bush's wish to wipe out his sniff, drink and party youth,
avoiding the war in Vietnam with his father's clout, and having no other qualifications than his family name, to become a man of worth in the U.S. president's Hall of Fame. Worse yet was the skimping of the Constitutional requirement that "The Congress Must Declare War" before a war in a foreign land is fought
with a watered down "authorization to take necessary measures" declaration that was a convenient substitute for an unnecessary war.

Sure, it is convenient, popular and patriotic to blame Vladimir Putin for everything we don't get our way, and
we surely enjoyed and loved Boris Yeltsin whose drunkenness kept Russia at a poverty level that allowed us to dictate the behavior of everyone on the planet, and in turn make the U.S. the most hated nation on earth, and the target of those we suppressed.

Unfortunately for us, when the 3:00am call came to the White House that the Russians were advancing on
Georgia, Yelstin was dead, and the Medveded -Putin team was in control in Russia. And not only they were not drunk, but Putin had warned the U.S. during the European Conference last year that "Any effort to resolve global problems unilaterally will be hopeless." George Bush didn't listen because his super-sized bravado has squeezed his other senses into the necropsy level. He unilaterally declared the independence of Kosovo, and relished the hugs and kisses of Albanians - the only nation on earth that
welcomed him without massive demonstrations on the streets calling for his head as it happened everywhere else he went. Now Putin -as the author claims- will give South Ossetia and Abkhazia what
Kosovo got -unilaterally by the Russians this time. What goes around, comes around -as the adage goes. And surely George Bush can do nothing else other than lose some sleep at 3:00am. And at this critical moment -when the national interest is at stake, as the campaign ads tell us- the only thing he can do is take some Kosovo anti-depressants. On the meantime, the presidential candidates had better start now and study some war history because history will repeat itself if they get an F grade on their watch - as George Bush did. Nikos Retsos, retired academic.

Putin=Ex KGB. Who didn't see this coming? Only Obama has the quick wit and cool nerves to handle this situation correctly! McCain isn't even in office and he's already pissing them (Russians)) off. Obama is the only way out of this mess.

What the next president should do is stop promoting war. It is clear to anyone that the violence in Georgia is the fault of the US. The US (with its puppet dog Israel) armed and trained Georgia, promised then NATO membership, planned to put US missiles and possibly bases there. It is doubtful Georgia's presidents attack on Ossetia was made without White House approval.

It is clear Russia did not start this, but it did end it. It is also clear that this was a bullying move by the US against Russia using its proxy. A bullying move that backfired and only resulted in the US revealed as a paper tiger.

The US needs to stop selling weapons and promoting violence, close down all its foriegn bases and bring all its troops home, cut its bloated military entitlement system down to a fraction of what it is now. This is what the next president needs to do but neither will do it, which is why I will not vote for either.

Despite His Claim that He Fought to Expose Abramoff, McCain Relies on Abramoff-Linked Advisors and Fundraisers



WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week John McCain has stayed busy trying to escape his ties to criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his shady lobbyist colleagues, including Randy Scheunemann and Ralph Reed. The McCain campaign has been trying to gloss over the details of Scheunemann's swings between lobbying and advising McCain, often on issues of interest to recent clients, and attempting to excuse McCain's enlistment of Abramoff crony Reed to raise money. But the McCain campaign can't spin away Scheunemann's shady ties, or his influence on McCain, and they're not having any more success trying to escape the fallout over McCain's refusal to cancel his Monday fundraiser with Reed.



(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/DNCLOGO )



Scheunemann served as McCain's campaign foreign policy advisor in 2000 and is back in 2008, despite lobbying in the interim. Until May, Scheunemann was lobbying for Georgia - earning more than $800,000 in the process - yet now in August, he's advising McCain on the conflict between Georgia and Russia. Scheunemann's other notable lobbying stints include putting his McCain ties to use in 2006 advising Greenberg Traurig, Jack Abramoff's former firm, as McCain served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, charged with investigating Abramoff.



McCain has also enlisted Abramoff crony Ralph Reed to raise money for his campaign. Abramoff directed at least $4.2 million to Reed as he defrauded his clients, yet as chair, McCain never called Reed to testify before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs during the Abramoff investigation. Now Reed's helping McCain fundraise, sending emails with the subject line "special invitation from Ralph Reed" to recruit donors to join him at McCain's Monday fundraiser in Atlanta - and McCain is ignoring calls from nonpartisan watchdog groups to cancel the fundraiser.



Scheunemann and Reed are only two of the cast of McCain advisors and fundraisers who prove how deeply McCain embedded McCain is in the Republican culture of corruption - and just how clear it is that McCain means more of the same old politics.

Dear US of A,
The state of Georgia is often described in the press as a staunch American ally. It is not, it is a US mascot.
And when you adopt mascots, you assume certain basic responsibilities. Feeding and trimming your mascot is not enough ??? you do it mostly for your own amusement.
You owe it to society to give your mascot some basic toilet training. If your mascot is a sprightly thing, you should keep it on a leash when in public.
Now, when your mascot starts to taunt a well-fed grisly in a weak cage, the least you can do is to anticipate the consequences.
And you cannot really blame the bear ??? the bear acts his nature.
You cannot blame the mascot ??? the mascot acts its nature to.
Who you really should question is yourself, as a creature not entirely devoid of moral reasoning.
Perhaps you should not be keeping mascots.