You’ve got to think that the Army commanders trying to tamp down insurgency in Iraq, and not a few grunts, would rather be getting it on with the Russians in Georgia. It was the mission they trained for their entire careers, and I suspect those long columns of Russian armor we’ve seen would be easy pickings for M1A1 tanks and Apache gunships. Alas, there’s that danger of nuclear escalation that would make the hysteria about Osama look like kindergarten.
McCain has been frighteningly bellicose and one of his top advisers makes quite a bundle as a lobbyist for Georgia. Don’t look for much of this to come out, even on such "liberal" outlets as NPR. Obama has been more measured and realistic, without sounding weak. It’s a sad commentary on how far American prestige has fallen that France is left to broker a peace. De Gaulle must be looking down and smiling knowingly.
The revived and revanchist Russia’s strength is its energy, and don’t look for Moscow to cut off gas to major countries in Europe. That’s the cash cow. Yet it will have its way with Georgia and what can we do? Back home, we live in child-like thrall that drilling "everywhere" will somehow produce "energy independence." The Seattle P-I’s David Horsey perfectly captured the American mindset. Has a country ever been as rich and clueless, so bereft of its former virtues and strengths? Rome comes to mind…
Given America’s martial fervor, our response has been long on bravado and short on action. When McCain said it’s the 21st century and nations don’t invade other nations, he summed up not only his grasp of world affairs but our collective dementia.
Would we really have gone toe to toe with Russia over Georgia? We didn’t when it was Hungary in 1956 or Czecholslovakia in 1968. Obviously, every situation is different but Georgia sleeps very close to an elephant. Mice need to be cautious.
Given our own history, particularly with Mexico, it’s rather smarmy to become righteous about Russia. Great powers behave by their own set of rules. A cursory examination of our own history shows that.
“McCain has been frighteningly bellicose and one of his top advisers makes quite a bundle as a lobbyist for Georgia. Don’t look for much of this to come out, even on such “liberal” outlets as NPR.”
You should at least spend 10 seconds checking the NPR website before you post statements like this.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93566170