Palin's Dangerous Saber Rattling on Russia

Sarah Palin said something very very dangerous today during her interview with Charlie Gibson.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO. Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

There are numerous problems with this statement.  The most important element is that it sends a very dangerous and extreme signal to the world -- especially other nuclear powers. This type of dangerous talk reinforces the militaristic saber-rattling of the McCain campaign.  From joking about bombing Iran, to talking about invading Iraq, Iran and Syria weeks after 9/11 to the misguided "we are all Georgians now," the McCain campaign is sending all kinds of horrifying signals to the world about the types of wars it would fight. Leaders in other capitals are paying attention and words matter.

Technically, if Georgia and Ukraine were to become part of NATO under Article Five, we would be obligated to protect them and even Obama-Biden support bringing them into NATO.  But here's the thing...

No sane American or European leader would ever ever ever give an answer like that.  You do not get into hypotheticals about nuclear war.  You just don't.  Palin references the Cold War.  The only reason the Cold War stayed cold is because our leaders understood the stakes of getting things wrong and saying things that could lead to catastrophic nuclear war.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis every word, every public statement, and any message that the Kennedy administration sent to the Soviets was checked, double checked, and triple checked to make sure it was sending precisely the right signal.  This is what you are forced to do when you have thousands of nuclear weapons and so does your opponent. The stakes are simply too high.  And yet there is a nominee for the vice presidency of the United States who may one day have her hand on the button and she is casually talking about potential catastrophic nuclear war. 

Barack Obama would never give that answer.  Joe Biden would never give that answer.  They would say that we don't discuss those types of hypotheticals.  That might sound like a cop out, but think of the Palin alternative and what kind of alarm bells that sets off in Moscow.  Prescisely the type of alarm bells that could one day lead to mushroom clouds.

Saber rattling matters.  Words matter.  We've learned that from the past eight years.  When George Bush said "With us or against us" it mattered.  When he referred to a "crusade" it mattered.  When McCain jokes about war with Iran, calls our allies "vaccous and posturing",  says that Iraq is building a weapons assembly line for al Qaeda, it matters. 

And when Sarah Palin, a first term Governor with no national security experience or expertise, talks about hypothetical nuclear war it really matters.  It reflects badly on her and her readiness.  It reflects even worse on John McCain who thought that she was qualified to be Commander in Chief.

Comments

[alexhiggins732]

I just wrote a blog post that lays out two dystopian parallel universes of America in my blog postElection 2008 "A Real Nightmare" (see: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2008/09/election-2008-a-real-nightmare.html )

Don't get me wrong, my scenarios are very, very far fetched and will never happen. But they are based on the current state of affairs and my personal criticisms of each campaign. Comments like this from Palin just make my comments about their campaign leading us straight into World War III more plausible

[Brian H]

Since Palin thinks there is no problem with Georgia attacking Ossetia for wanting to formally separate from the country, I would have to assume she would be in agreement if the US launched a military offense on Alaska if the separatists there (including Palin's husband) voted to succeed from the United States of America.

[research]

Good one.

[Norge]

Palin's holy sword rattling to Russia is simply dumb. It is not worth a grain of salt for it's sillyness.

[Sammy00400]

A year or two ago many people (Bush administration included) considered Putin's saber rattling just bluster. Of course now we know otherwise. Palin's statements themselves may be silly but its more important what they point to. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. It's important to know either way but as far as I know she hasnt discussed the comments since the interview. Maybe Hannity will ask her.

[Adamwestiii]

Wonder what Palin has been drinking because she talks like she's groggy! If she believes we should attack Russia, then I suggest she do some rethinking. One, we've been in Iraq for 7 years, a country that doesn't have airstrike capability, decent armored vehicles and tanks and still haven't brought peace to the country. When you talk about wanting to invade Russia, movement of US & coaltion equipment and supplies through Russia to fight in Afghanistan would stop immediately! I notice many have spoken out that Russia's equipment is too old - so apparently someone is failing to view a lot of Russian on International TV channels as I have, or they'd have a different opinion. Secondly, they also have nuclear weapons that can be launched against the USA from their area is readily available. In my opinion, we should stop all aid to Israel, as it appears to be our main source of false intelligence information, and they also have a knack of selling weaponry to foreign countries that may be dangerous. In addition, they are also involved in Iraq and Georgia with military training. The US is inspired to bring Czech Rep on board, and the government is still in talking stages with US although the majority of the population is against it. I believe it's time to take care of America's needs and follow our Constitution.

[Timekeeper10]

"Technically, if Georgia and Ukraine were to become part of NATO under Article Five, we would be obligated to protect them and even Obama-Biden support bringing them into NATO."

She did not say we should attack Russia, She said, That is the aurgument, when your ar a NATO ally".... In other words, "technically" serves the same purpose in the sentence as, "That is the aurgument". It is not a threat and you are a man that makes a living with words, Mr. Goldenburg and you know what she meant.

[deliriousgod]

this would have been a great point in the interview for Gibson to segway into the "Alaskan Independence' movement and to remind her that Alaska was originally part of Russia. Palin ... Lenin...St­alin. The trouble with Americans is you are all home-schooled

[Achim]

The present administration has gone to great length reassuring the Russians that missiles stationed in Poland wil NOT pose a threat to Russia. If war with Russia is indeed a possibility this undoubtedly sheds new light on existing and future bases in Russia`s vicinity.
May it suffice to point out that Russia has been supportive of the fight against the Taliban. Nato logistics would face major problems if land supply routes through Russia were cut off.
One has got to understand the intricacies of a conflict-prone region like the South Caucasus in order to contain and ultimately resolve those conflicts. Simplistic judgements emanating from the McCain camp about Georgians being a Christian people of old, presumably as opposed to "heathen" Rusians, are ill-conceived and draw irrational battle-lines. It will be impossible to build alliances around such pseuso-religious foreign policy positions. If they inform official government policy it will spell the end of NATO in its present form.

[Marmann]

This is a great piece, Mr. Goldenberg, and I couldn't agree more with your assessment. When McCain made the statement, "We're all Georgians today," I wondered if this was the beginning of the "McCain" war before he's even (s)elected. I don't hear many people point out that GEORGIA was not the initial "attackee" in this situation; it was the ATTACKER. It made me question McCain's slogan, "Country First," and wonder just which country he was referring to. (In fact, I wrote this "Country First" question all over every message board I could find, I wrote to the Obama campaign and BEGGED them to use this in an ad, and I wrote it on a blog. Today, I see that Obama has finally used it in a speech, although in a different context.)

When Palin so casually offered up the possibility of a war against Russia, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The rest of the world must think the USA is insane. Unfortunately, it turns out our leaders and potential leaders ARE.

If an honest election can truly be held (sans Diebold influence), this will be the single most important election in my lifetime, and if we don't get this right, it may be the last election that is ever held for a very long time. When mutual nukes are deployed, the politicians and the richest of the rich will retreat to their underground bunkers , and the rest of the American "herd" will be "thinned" into extinction.

[OBXartist]

I'm not sure that John McCain thinks Palin is qualified to be Commander in Chief. I'm not sure he cares. He needed someone who would energize the crazy right wing of the party and someone who would generate a media frenzy, even if it was only because people were exclaiming "WTF?!"

What really is frightening is the number of conservatives who seem to see war as the solution to every international confrontation. What is wrong with these people? We're involved in two unresolved wars right now. Still, threats have been made against Iran. Threats have been made against North Korea. Now Palin, who just a couple of years ago was making decisions about the village dogcatcher, community trash pick-up and how to fire the local librarian, has put Russia on notice? Just how many wars do they think we can fight concurrently?

Listen to how a person talks. Obama says "I think...". He's reflective, thoughtful, wants to assess all the known facts, doesn't make rash decisions. Sarah Palin doesn't "think," she just makes statements as fact, she just "knows". She has that peculiar certainty that only comes from ignorance. We've seen this before...f­rom George W. Bush. Consider how that turned out.

[saraaz]

Gov. Palin's statement does not at all send a dangerous or extreme message of any kind to the world . In fact, to the contrar, her answer was quite diplomatic and simply defined to Gibson what it meant to be in NATO.. Additonally, she made no mention of any nuclear war whatsoever. The only mention of "Nuclear Powers" is in your written article. McCains campaign is in no way re-defining NATO. And the world leaders know exactly what NATO means to all.

[FrancescoFemia]

This absolutely must be turned into a game-ending attack ad from the Obama team. Not game-changing, but game-ending.

What type of attack ads work, and which don't? The ones that seem to work are the ones that inspire fear. The "computer" ad does no such thing (and may backfire, given McCain's arm problems). While fearmongering is rightfully frowned upon in the moderate-t­o-progress­ive circles that I run in, in the case of a McCain presidency/ Palin vice presidency, I think fear would not be an unreasonable feeling to appeal to (I fear it myself).

What is needed is a new Daisy Spot ad. A little girl plucking petals set to a countdown, and then, as she reaches 10, Sarah Palin saying "perhaps so" when asked if she would advise going to war with Russia over Georgia (a hawkish comment by McCain could be included alongside.­) Then, a voice that says; "Do McCain and Palin understand that Russia has nuclear weapons?" and cut to a mushroom cloud explosion, with a voiceover similar to the Daisy Spot ad.

It sunk Barry Goldwater and it could sink the McCain/Plain ticket.

[ritgar]

I found it amusing that they picked Charlie Gibson to interview her because they thought soft-spoken = soft. Once he tried to treat her questioning at the level she should be treated, it became "Oh - big bad Chawry picked on widdle Sarah - how tewwible".

[citizenbfk]

This blind support for Georgia, like McCain-Palin's blind support for Israel will lead us into wars that put the American people in danger,

The Israeli selling of weapons to Georgia, training Georgia troops, the involvement of "former," Israel General Gal Hirsch playing a leading role in the Georgian attack,shows even more complexity and danger in blind support.

Re: Iran: Putin made it clear "Any attack on Iran will be considered by Russia to be an attack on the national interests of Russia."

So blind support for Georgia, or blind support for Israel attacking Iran, would put us into a war with Russia. Is this in the interest of the American people that Israel can do this?

No.

Israel is not an ally of ours, BTW. That's more propaganda. There is no treaty of alliance. It is also questionable if Israel is a "friend." People who drag you into fights are not your friend. Russia claims that the Israeli-sold spy drones were not only used to help the recent Georgia attack but have also gone into Russian and Iranian territory and that airbases controlled by Israel in Tbilsi were to be used in Israel's plans for attacking Iran.

Of course this is all part of the US scheme to encircle Russia and contain its reemerging power, and steal the oil from the Caspian Sea.

The founding fathers of the USA were all clearly against "entangling alliances," and now we've created the noose that will strangle us.

[Achim]

Official Israeli foreign policy appears to be much more balanced than you make it out to be. Aid was effectively offered to both the people of Georgia and Southern Georgia and arms sales were suspended a few months prior to the outbreak of armed conflict.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218104259498&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

One must not confuse SAKASHVILI`s interest in dragging in the US and Israel once his ill-conceived attempt at resolving the conflict by military force backfired. Israel - as opposed to the McCain camp - prudently kept its distance.

[Collielady]

It's frightening to think that the American people will fall for this again.

[jhamm1]

"PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO. "

Perhaps Gibson should have attempted to pin her down at this point, asking her whether or not she could specify exactly what the "rose" and "orange" revolutions actually were. Dollars to doughnuts states that she merely heard these names in passing by her Republican friends in preparation for her interview and that she probably couldn't distinguish anything beyond the names themselves.

[MichaelOFaolain]

Yeah. Let's get involved in a land war in Europe against Russia. After all, the historical precedents say that they will lose.

[deliriousgod]

a long supply-line terminating in an enfeebled clutch at the Crimean oil-fields against the Russian Empire on its home-turf. Sarah should read a book before she bans them all.