Thirty-six years ago I was in Georgia and Abkhasia on assignment for CBS News. Last Friday, I was in the network's Moscow bureau watching the war unfold between Russia and Georgia. In between repetitive scenes of bombing, shelling and chaos, I switched channels to absorb the spectacular unveiling of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Obviously, it was a surreal experience. I'm not sure I could make sense of any of it.
The graphics from China were spectacular. The war was incomprehensible. My mind flashed back to Moscow's television news programs I used to suffer in the 1970s that were anchored by frumpy old Communist Party hacks. Instinctively, I knew they were telling us viewers nothing but lies. I remember watching a blank screen in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Olympic Games and we in Moscow were told merely that there had been a "disturbance" that interfered with the televised coverage. Not a hint of the tragedy that was unfolding.
Watching last week's newscast on Moscow TV with my wife and a friend was vastly different in appearance, but not content. There were lots of on-the-spot correspondents, talkative troop commanders and graphic scenes of fighting. An attractive anchorwoman, partnered with an attractive anchorman cut back and forth to scenes in South Ossetia, depicting the gore of war. It was hard to know what to believe. The Russian language programs contained anti-Georgian rhetoric that was fierce and exaggerated. The English language program depicted Russian troops, tanks and dive-bombing aircraft allegedly "enforcing the peace," whatever that meant. The coverage was totally jingoistic, condemning the invading Georgians in the runaway province of South Ossetia and of endangering the lives of thousands of Russian citizens. There was no mention of the fact that when Russia took control of the territory years ago, it handed out passports to local residents, automatically proclaiming citizenship to people who had once been regarded as Georgians. The broadcast clearly was laced with propaganda, one scene showing an Ossetian woman trapped in a basement in the town of Tskhingali with a dead son in her arms. It was an attempt to depict the brutality of the Georgian invaders.
Clearly, there has been bad blood between Russians and Georgians for generations even during the history of the Soviet Union. But the invasion of the breakaway province of South Ossetia was a calculated gamble gone awry by Georgia's unpredictable president, Mikhail Saakhashvili. He chose to attack, believing that there would be no response from Moscow what with President Dmitri Medvedev on a Volga boat cruise and Premier Vladimir Putin enjoying the Olympic Games in Beijing. The New York-trained lawyer miscalculated as we all know by now and the Russians struck back with little hesitation.
Blame for this mess can be apportioned equally. But while it has aroused the predictable hostility or posturing of the U.S. government, policy wonks, the media and our two presidential candidates, evoked sounds of the Cold War all over again. Cooler heads will have to prevail before the situation disintegrates altogether.
From what I was able to observe in a short visit to Russia these past two weeks is that it is a different, more confident country than I remember from my years as a Moscow correspondent. We may not like the nature of a regime that is autocratic and by no means democratic. But it is no longer a country that was in a state of collapse after the Berlin Wall came down. It is energy-rich with the kind of wealth that enables it to stiffen its back to threats and provocative gestures by Washington. We can no longer ignore what Russia has become since the collapse of communism. Provoking it by sending U.S. Marines into neighboring Georgia to train its army and by talking up membership of the former Soviet republic in NATO, is clearly one of the dumbest ideas in the post Cold War era. The notion that we could sell Poland, Hungary and now even Georgia as members of an outdated security treaty when none of them are anywhere near the North Atlantic Ocean, sounds like an insider joke. Putin, whom President Bush once referred to as "my friend, Vladimir," is no fool. Moreover, he is tough, nationalistic, dangerous and in control as the past week's events testify, with a resurgent military establishment that should give us some pause to reflect on the nature of Russia's political muscle.
We have enough headaches in the Middle East. Our armed forces have been depleted immeasurably by the Bush administration's commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last thing the United States needs now is another burden to preoccupy us when our domestic problems are almost too numerous to contemplate. Does John McCain understand this? Given his rhetoric, it certainly doesn't sound like it.
The U.S. cannot choose not to be the guardian of the world peace as it has been for decades, the consequences would be too dire and would reach Americans at home. Now it is up to the next President to have the brain and spine to recover and show the U.S. is still up to the task. This requires cool thinking with sharp strategic eye, firm action on multiple fronts, and spine to even show some hardware despite the risks, even up to the level of what Kennedy did during the Cuban Crisis if needed, not angry ill-thought empty rhetoric or appeasement in front of naked aggression.
Some people just don't listen. Eh, Saakashvilli. And now you expect U.S. to bail you out? No thanks.
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Anyway, if you believe that Georgia is the "victim" here, you are grossly misinformed.
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Really???
How is Russia the victim here??
Was Russia invaded???
Nope...
Was Russia attacked???
Nope...
So, exactly how is Russia the "victim" here oh mighty informed one???
Michale.....
LOL! I I ALWAYS bring my heavy artillery on a " humanitarian mission." :-))
"Some 100,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by the conflict."
Thanks Saakashvilli
Russia and China have already conducted joint military exercises supposing a “country torn by civil war and sectarian violence” John McCain allegedly has a Georgian lobbyist (foreign agent?) on his payroll. Russia in concert with China is moving to choke off the Black Sea oil pipeline, control the price of oil and the destiny of the American economy. There will gains and false cease fires that will time out in conjunction with the withdrawal dates being for U.S. troops being floated by Maliki. At which time the Maliki government will request the intervention of the Chinese and the Russians, and the ascendance of the U.S. will have ended with a whimper.
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What do you expect from a country/region that produced one of the worst, if not THE worst, mass murderers in history, Josef Stalin.
Ironically, in Gori, Stalin's birthplace, they still have a statue of him on display in front of their city hall -- as well as a museum that was actually closed by the Soviets but re-opened at the behest of Georgians.
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Yer kidding, right??
So, because Stalin was born there, it's perfectly OK for Russia to invade their democracy and slaughter innocent civilians??
Using your reasoning, we should bomb California back into the Stone Age because California gave us Charles Manson, or slaughter all Ohioans because they gave us James Huberty...
Yea, right.... :^/
Michale.....
Anyway, if you believe that Georgia is the "victim" here, you are grossly misinformed.
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What do you expect NATO to do?
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You would be amazed...
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The US bullied its way into Iraq for control of oil.
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The US led a COALITION into Iraq under the auspices of the UN to enforce UN resolutions..
There is no coalition in Georgia, just Russia. And the only "resolution" that Russia is enforcing is their own greed.
These are the facts...
Michale.....
Maps change. DEAL WITH IT.
You really need to drop this from your routine, Michale. Again:
The UN passed 16 resolutions pertaining Iraq PRIOR TO 2002; there was a 17th resolution which was withdrawn and EFFORTS AIMED AT A NEW RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE INVASION OF IRAQ WERE ABORTED owing to resistance from other members of the Security Council including veto-wielding members. Iraq was invaded anyway, on 20 March. The coalition at no time was assured any more than four affirmative votes in the Security Counci -- the US, UK, Spain and Bulgaria -- well short of the requirement for nine affirmative votes. On 16 September 2004 Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, speaking on the invasion, said, "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal."
Those are the facts, as someone once said. and they are undisputed.
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The point about the American MSM is well taken. Russia is being portrayed as an agressor that is trying to take over an entire country which isn't the case
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You are quite wrong...
Russia IS the aggressor in this...
The invaded sovereign territory and intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure.
Georgia was handling an INTERNAL matter and Russia interfered... Russia MIGHT have had a tenuous (VERY tenuous) justification by wanting to evac their citizens, but Russia COMPLETELY shattered that justification when they invaded Georgia proper...
Russia IS the aggressor in this. Of that, there is no doubt..
Michale.....
The UK has had to tone down its Russian aggression rhetoric at the EU, because many EU members see Saakashvili as the villain....don't expect to see Georgia in NATO while this clown is in charge there...
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At this point, talk is plenty cheap.
And there is plenty of cheap talk going around as well.
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Apparently, the Russians don't appear to think that "talk is cheap". Less than a day after Bush tells the Russians they need to stop....
Guess what??
The Russians order a halt...
Time will tell if this is actually a cessation of hostilities or not.
@PaulinaSmedes
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Russia has tremendous amounts of natural resources. If you want to get a sense of how much oil Russia is sitting on -in Siberia for the most part- take a look at this:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_47/b3909079_mz054.htm
I don't think they're really interested in the few drops of oil Georgia is producing.
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Actually, Georgia doesn't produce any oil, as far as I know..
But the only oil and natural gas pipelines that run to Europe that bypass Russia are in Georgia.
And THAT is what Russia wants to control. They want to control all pipelines that feed Europe..
Michale.....
Russia will NOT be allowed to remain in Georgia...
It's THAT simple....
Michale.....
Kennedy (JFK) stated in Berlin for the WALL: "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berlin citizen) to express his support for the obvious wish within the population on both side of that WALL to reunite.
John McCain now thought it necessary/opportune to paraphrase that with "I am a Georgian", which is excessively supporting one side in a bloody nationalistic tainted conflict and can only serve to excite emotions unduly. Clearly he identifies with the party which thought it expedient to raze a civilian population in order to reestablish territorial claims. Our maverick is associating himself with the foolish course of action taken by the Georgian leadership. His support at this moment can only serve to support that leadership. That leadership may be democratically elected and christian, but that's clearly no guarantee for sainthood. By the way a lot of shady characters are democratically elected (Milosevic, but its a long list!).
Taking McCain's earlier statement with respect to kicking Russia out of the G8, he may be a straight talker, but only proves himself totally and dangerously inept with respect to international relations. He is exposing himself as a warrior frozen in time still ready to fight the last war he was involved in at a tactical level (but lost anyway).
From Europe's perspective USA meddling with Georgia produced exactly the result feared by Nato members. Another credit crises....Thanks