George W. Bush is to Georgia as George H.W. Bush is to Kurdistan

It's not a perfect analogy, I know, but it's an improvement over the Hitler/Sudetenland meme coming from the knee-jerk-o-cons.

Fred Kaplan at Slate lays out how Bush/Cheney egged on the Georgians to believe that they're de facto members of NATO, that America will protect them against the Russian bear.

When W went to Georgia, he said this to an ecstatic crowd:

The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you.... [T]he sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia must be respected -- the territorial [sic] and sovereignty of Georgia must be respected by all nations.

If that's what he said in public, what has he been saying in private to Georgian President Saakashvili about the Russian forces that have been encamped in and controlling Georgia's breakaway province South Osettia since the breakup of the Soviet Union?

It's hard not to be reminded of how George W. Bush father, in 1991, notoriously suggested that "the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people... take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside." When the Kurds tried to do just that, and begged for help, the best 41 could offer was an Emily Litella-like Never mind.

I'm not bothered by 41 having an Oedipal thing to work out with 43. I just wish it they could do it around the dinner table, instead of breaking so much crockery on the world stage.

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[RumiSouth]

Someone should do a commercial:

News footage of Russian tanks advancing. A shot of Chechnya's bombed out city. In the background, Ray Charles sings "Georgia on My Mind"... One sentence fades in: "READY TO LEAD?"...

...Anyone out there know someone at MoveOn.org?...

Wonder what Obama's gonna say about Georgia?

[mosh]

In a recent press conference from Hawaii Obama said that Georgia should pull back from South Osettia and Russia should then call a cease fire. Political reconciliation all around, no saber rattling or war mongering on the part of his would-be administration.

[Danny]

We Americans are omnipotent. We can do ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, right? Georgia? Where is Georgia? Let them eat peaches.

[Talwar]

Right! We must defend Atlanta!

[mosh]

On a more serious note (sorry) can you imagine if Russia were arming Canada or Mexico (yeah, just like moscow armed Cuba). Or can you imagine if Russia were building bases along our borders. The good ol' US of A has 737 bases across the globe - soldiers garrisoned across the globe. Can you imagine if Russia had a base in Georgia or North Carolina?

The empire will fall it is just a matter of when China and Russia pull the trigger on those treasury notes.

[littlepuffycloud]

What about Tara? As God as my witness....

[plebeianswillrevolt]

Russia, Iran, China.... every one is giving Dubya 'The Heisman'... you know, a stiff arm to the jaw. Buzz off punk.

The fool has weakened America to the point that not even the janitor respects us any more.

[cheshirecat831]

You have issues with janitors?

[BlackBuddha]

Maybe the reason the janitor doesn't respect the "us" anymore, is that the janitor is Russian, and he has a doctorate in political science.

[cheshirecat831]

You have issues with janitors as being at the bottom?

[saltyseas]

Whatever, I'm sorry, it's very difficult not to see Georgia as the over-confident aggressor here. They intentionally waded into S. Ossetia knowing full well that there were a bunch of Russian peacekeepers there and the World's eyes were turned on the Olympics. They had every intent of destroying everything and everyone in their path and when Russian (appeared) to fulfill it's charge as "peacekeeping" force the whole thing turned into a rout. I harbor no delusion that Georgia intended to keep Tskhinvali standing nor a single S. Ossetian alive on their side of the border.

With Allies like that who needs enemies? I'd be dropping them like the drunken uncle, too....

[mosh]

Georgia didn't do this on its own, the little dubya was behind Georgia 110% just like his dad was behind the Kurds, way, way behind.

Once again, its all about that fossil fuel.

[cheshirecat831]

For Dubya it is Eddie Puss and he doesn't have a clue....
http://sfbaysailingpix.com/pezt.htm

[raker]

The Bush's are Eugene O'Neill's Tyrones, cursed with answered prayers. What a toxic psychodrama their family life must be.

[flatus]

I beg you pardon...but he never promised you a rose garden.... along with the bullshit you gotta take a horseshit sometime.......

[Seral]

Ha ha, 'never mind', indeed a good answer. Go take care of yourself Georgia. I, Bush Jr., am the one who encouraged you to do what you did, now I won't do anything to save you. If you had succeeded, I would have done anything in my power to devour you. But now that you failed, I don't even want to devour you. Now, let's pray. That is all I can offer for your safety.

[mosh]

Yes, that seems to be Bush's role, yet it is hard to fathom how Georgia believed it could stand up to Russia even with Bush whispering sweet nothings in their ears. I know we armed them to the teeth but, really.

Besides, Russia has us over a barrel literally and figuratively. She can just call in some of those promissory notes and cut the flow of oil and we will drown in our own hubris.

[memphispaul]

"It's hard not to be reminded of how George W. Bush father, in 1991, notoriously suggested that "the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people... take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside." When the Kurds tried to do just that, and begged for help, the best 41 could offer was an Emily Litella-like Never mind."

Even more troubling was the American response to the Shiite rebellion. As American military forces stood by less than 1km away, Iraqi forces butchered the Shiite civilian population in southern Iraq in 1991.
What was H.W. doing during all of this? Playing a round of golf.
The Bush family has a long history of making promises to folks then standing by as they get murdered by the thousands for believing them. In so doing the Bush family has destroyed America's given word. Now Russia's Putin treats W. as his personal love toy.

[mcthfg]

Now watch this drive, indeed.

[Durango]

Exactly my reaction.

[ChaoticGood]

Now the Georgians have learned, first hand, what we Americans already know, and that is to never trust a member of the Bush crime family for anything.

[peterg76]

After the experience with Iraq and many, many other examples, it's hard to feel sorry for the Georgians if they ever imagined the US would be a reliable ally. Unless there's oil involved, the US doesn't even help its own citizens (consider New Orleans).

[Gma11]

Oh, my god. I remember that, but had not thought about that in this connection. The consequences for the Kurds and the Marsh Shia were horrendous. They believed Bush Sr. and the US would support them. And we left them to be massacred. And Sadaam destroyed as much of the marshes as he could.

[veracity]

Don't forget who was Bush Sr's Secretary of War back in those good ol' days.. why none other than Dastardly Dick Cheney!

Not only were Cheney, Bush Sr., and Rumsfeld in the thick of AIDING, SUPPLYING, and FUNDING Saddam Hussein all through the late 1980s leading up to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.. but in the ultimate example of America's neo-con/ne­o-Confeder­ate "REAL-POLITIK" flirting with abject INSANITY, Bush Sr, Rumsfeld, and Cheney were actually looking the other way (SUPPORTING!) Saddam's efforts to arm himself _with WMD technologies" !! - not just the chemical and nerve gases his forces dumped by the barrel on Iranian army and Kurdish Civilian positions, but America under Bush Sr. even helped Saddam arm himself with BIO and NUCLEAR wmd "PRECURSOR" technologies!

The ability of the American media, state-security propaganda fashion, to WHITEWASH all this history, is simply amazing to behold.

SPIDER'S WEB: How the White House ILLEGALLY ARMED IRAQ
http://www.amazon.com/Spiders-Web-Secret-History-Illegally/dp/0553096508

(or just google "Iraq 1980s WMD precursors")

[Durango]

Goebbels was a rank amateur.

Didn't know the first thing about effective propaganda.

Compared to our propaganda machine called the Corporate Media.