Of all the great resistance fighters I have met in my life, of all the Massouds and Izetbegovics I have had occasion to defend, Georgia's Saakashvili is the one who is the most unfamiliar with war, its rites, its emblems, its culture - but he is dealing with it.
The lights are about to go out on Beijing 2008, and -- guess what -- there's already talk of a Georgia-related U.S.-organized boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
The good news is that Russia is no longer governed by an expansionist ideology, and in fact, it is not a strong country, but still a weak one -- the country's economy is a one trick pony.
Since 2001, George W. Bush and the neo-cons who run his foreign policy have treated the Russian Federation like a banana republic.
While Rick Warren is an improvement over Focus on the Family's James Dobson, he must teach evangelicals there is a better way than the selfishness of modern conservatism.
McCain's strident statements following Russia's military actions only place into relief the reality that he has continuously supported Bush policies that make us weaker -- in spite of his tough talk.
The Russian government desperately wants the West to treat it as an important and respected great power. We can and should withhold that treatment. No diplomatic business as usual.
Sunday I talked with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the elder statesman and national security advisor to Jimmy Carter, about the Russian invasion of Georgia. He long tangled with Soviet power. Now he takes on Putin.
Be thankful for radio silence I guess when other candidates for VP like Daschle and Bayh are getting phone calls saying, "Sorry....but we look forward to working with you in many other ways in the coming years."
Who benefits most from painting this a revival of Soviet-era aggression? John McCain. The Georgian crisis has created a campaign issue he can run on.
The conflict between Russia and Georgia did not begin on August 8th, and it won't end anytime soon. Bluster will not push the Russians back, nor will (nearly empty) threats of retaliation.
American evangelicals invaded Russia with missionaries, said the Orthodox aren't "real Christians," and attacked their friends. Now we expect Russia to be logical about these matters and do what is good for business.
Our country lacks the resources to stand up to Russian aggression. While Russia has the resources to bend its neighbors to its will. The rest of the world gets it.
Rice's field of expertise is the Soviet Union. Ask anyone at the Hoover Institute. She's written books on the Soviets, a dissertation even! She speaks Russian. She has impeccable credentials -- for a top slot in the Ford administration.
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Now that Putin has called Bush's bluff in Georgia, anyone who thinks Putin won't do the same in Poland is fooling themselves.
The chance to break up NATO is too great of a temptation for Putin to pass up.
Can someone explain why nobody is talking about all of the short range and intermediate range missiles that Russia has in Kalinigrad which is between Poland and Lithuania?
http://russiatrek.org/map.shtml
Russia shouldn't be so offended by DEFENSIVE missiles in Poland if Russia did not already have intentions of shooting missiles into Europe in the first place. Also if Russia did nuke Poland, Russia could look forward to all of the nuclear fallout being blown back into Russia by Eastern Winds.
It appears the ONLY reason why the aggressive Soviet Union was dissolved by Russia in 1990 in the first place was because of the low price of oil in 1990 that hurt Russia's economy.
We must never forget that Russia is the huge size that it is as a result of its constant aggressive nature that has led it to steal land of other nations.
We must never forget that Russia up to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was the biggest COLLABORATOR and SUPPORTER of Nazi Germany until the Nazis turned on Russia. Russia supplied tons of grain and oil to Nazi Germany and even helped the Nazi Germans invade Poland by providing the Nazis with the "best way" to destroy Poland. This is shown in the movie "The Soviet Story". So Russia shouldn't complain about fighting the Nazi Germans when Russia helped supply and build Nazi Germany.
Nazis & Soviet Russians are GOOD BUDDIES
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11401983
The Royal House of Hohenzollern and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Margarita of Roumania and her husband Radu Duda, His Serene Highness no doubt are thrilled at what this means for their House.
No doubt, at Savarsin Castle in Roumania, this is quite the news item.
Manuel
For the love of God please remove these missiles.
Question: How insane is it for the Bush administration to place this 'missile defense system' 115 miles from the Russian border?
Answer: Not insane at all - from Bush's perspective - when you consider just how many billions Bush and his friends make from the act of destabilization: Including the run up to the event, the event itself, and the post-event reconstruction.
Heady days indeed for disaster capitalists...
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