Fantasy and Reality: McCain/Palin On Russia After The Georgia War
Not only has Moscow not become isolated in the wake of its Georgian war, it has grown more expansive, participating this week for the first time in an OPEC meeting. Russian strategic bombers arrived in Venezuela for exercises on Wednesday.
Sarah Palin's shaky performance last night on ABC points up a big gap between fantasy and reality for her and John McCain on Russia. McCain has been very wrong about how things would play out in the aftermath of the Georgia war. And Palin, hardly to our surprise last night, hasn't a clue.
McCain declared after the Russia-Georgia War -- in which Russian forces used the pretext helpfully provided by McCain friend Mikheil Saakashvili's boneheaded decision to launch a Georgian offensive against breakaway South Ossetia to swiftly shatter the Georgian military -- that Russia would be isolated. "We are all Georgians," he declared.
Palin echoed this bellicosity last night, expanding on it to say that war with Russia may be necessary.
But it's hard to see much support for that sort of thinking, either in terms of real-world events or widespread political attitudes.
Consider the reality, rather than the fantasy.
** Far from being isolated as McCain predicted, Russia is actually more expansive in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia War. This week, Russia participated for the first time in the OPEC meeting in Vienna. Moscow accepted a standing invitation, sending a deputy premier who is also head of the petro giant Rosneft. OPEC and Russia agreed to begin coordinating on production and price. And key Central Asian energy-producing nations are choosing to work with Russia, rather than the US.
In politico-military affairs, Israel, which has its own long-standing and complex relationship with Moscow, has agreed to stop providing arms to Georgia. Syria has offered a permanent port, which would place Russian naval forces in the Middle East. Russia is sending a naval task force for maneuvers in the Caribbean. And a pair of Russian strategic bombers just made the flight to Venezuela for exercises there, where President Hugo Chavez says he will take the controls for an aerial demonstration of his own.
Russia is reminding America that it doesn't like meddling in its backyard any more than we do.
** The European Union has done nothing to discipline Russia. After its big summit last week on the Georgian crisis, the EU issued nothing more than a harshly worded press release. There are no sanctions against Russia. And Europe is turning a deaf ear on calls to expel Russia from the G-8 group of advanced industrial nations.
Russia is Europe's leading supplier of natural gas, oil, and uranium. Something which warhawks seem to forget. And NATO, contrary to some bumptious claims, is in no position to field substantial expeditionary military forces, even if Russia were not an important business partner of Germany and France.
** The US has backed down from confronting Russia. The US Navy sent a few ships into the Black Sea, to deliver humanitarian aid. The most powerful warship among them, USS McFaul, an Aegis destroyer, was to have gone to Georgia's main port in the other breakaway province of Abkhazia. But after a Russian show of force, including deployment of the big missile cruiser Moskva in its path and a close pass from a Russian frigate, the McFaul went to a secondary port. Additionally, the US has turned a deaf ear to Sakkashvili's pleas for a US combat brigade to be based in Georgia.
But Georgia did get visits from Dick Cheney and Cindy McCain.
McCain has long been the most anti-Russian of major US politicians. Even in his thoughtful and rather moderate tour d'horizon foreign policy speech last spring in Los Angeles, he urged the ouster of Russia from the G-8. Which simply would not happen unless the Russians lost their minds.
Palin knows nothing of these issues. She's never even met a foreign head of government, something that is hard to do for a national politician. Although I must say one of my favorite Palinisms is where she pretends to know about Russia. Not because she's met Putin or Gorbachev or demonstrates knowledge. But because you can see Russia from Alaska. Well, from an island, anyway.
She's merely picking up on the bellicosity of McCain and the right with regard to Russia and other geopolitical issues.
Here's Palin last night with friendly ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson, who spent much of a debate he moderated in the Democratic primary asking Barack Obama why he wasn't wearing an American flag pin. (Gibson, of course, who was not in the military, wasn't wearing one either.)
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.
Georgia is not a member of NATO, and is unlikely to become one now.
Here's Palin questioned on the Bush Doctrine. On the seventh anniversary of 9/11, which is what prompted the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war.
Gibson: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?
Palin: In what respect, Charlie?
Gibson: What do you interpret it to be?
Palin: His worldview?
Gibson: No, the Bush Doctrine. Enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq War.
The Bush Doctrine is what was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Palin might want to know the original rationale for the Iraq War, since she just saw her son Track off there with his Army unit.
Palin's amateurism aside, McCain's views favoring a New Cold War with Russia haven't found favor with American voters. A poll by the Rasmussen organization at the height of the Georgian crisis shows no appetite for US military intervention, even as part of a peacekeeping force. Only 22% wanted to dispatch any US forces.
As the poll's owner, Republican Scott Rasmussen, puts it: "Despite the numerous Cold War references that have been made publicly in the past week, Americans still overwhelmingly do not regard Russia as an enemy. Fifteen percent (15%) say Russia is an enemy of the United States; 5% say it is an ally, and 76% rate the relationship as somewhere in between."
It will be interesting to see how the Obama/Biden campaign engages with this stuff.
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ISRAEL VS RUSSIA STOCK MARKET WARFARE (END PART)
But, the emergency funding measures taken by Soviet Russian government Finance Ministry Minister Alexei Kudrin to increase the amount of budget funds available to three state-controlled banks to smooth over the shock changes in the markets and enable the banks to make loans to smaller competitors, failed to halt the biggest stock rout since the country's debt default and currency devaluation a decade ago.
The full up to date effect of this Market Warfare can be gotten by contacting: Alex Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@bloomberg.net
ISRAEL VS RUSSIA STOCK MARKET WARFARE (PART TWO)
The Russia has been put pretty much at the top of the list of risky markets, at a time when investors world-wide are shifting out of emerging markets into assets perceived to be less risk-laden, the Israelis are using large forced selling tactics causing observed large capital outflows.
Russian markets stopped trading for a second day, as Russia's stock markets slumped to their lowest levels in more than two years as falling oil prices and The geo-political-risk premium tension sapped confidence with the perception that Russia's political behavior on the world stage has become more unpredictable, fueled by its short, victorious war against Georgia, has rattled nerves further. The ruble has lost about 8% of its value vs. the dollar since Aug. 8, when Russian forces entered South Ossetia and with The Russian government on Tuesday, Sept. 16 injected ($20B) billion into the interbank lending market via central bank and Finance Ministry auctions in a bid to contain soaring borrowing rates as credit dried up in the wake of the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy. The one-day MosPrime overnight rate, a gauge for monitoring liquidity demand, leapt 25 basis points to a record 11.08 percent today.
ISRAEL VS RUSSIA STOCK MARKET WARFARE: (PART ONE)
In an effort to buttress their position and give strength to Israeli representatives in discussions with Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn sent to Moscow persuade Russia not to stop the approval and sale of advanced Soviet Russian weaponry to Iran, selling their best anti-aircraft systems the sophisticated SAM-300 to Iran making Iran virtually invulnerable to attack from Israel or the US. And, let us not forget much closer problems to Israel then Iran, like Hamas and Hezbollah And, the placement of task force to a naval base in Syria with an aircraft carrier and subs to the Mediterranean, all the better to bollix up US strategy in the Middle, but to maintain the present status quo, are using Stock Market Warfare as a sword to make their point.
(JSOC/CIA) ABOVE JOINT CHIEFS PAYGRADE! (END PART)
(JSOC/CIA) Joint Special Operations Forces Command / Central Intelligence Agent Senior Operative, of the Afghanistan Sector, is responsible for "Preparing the Battlefield Operations" and who"s authority supersedes that of the Commanding Generals in Afghanistan, and , the American ambassador in Islamabad. And who"s orders are to be carried out without question is based at Bagram, air base in Afghanistan working under classified orders. Has the direct authority and responsibility to implement a new command structure coordinating all (JSOC), (USSOC) United States Special Operations Command) made up of the Army"s Delta Force and Navy Seals, (CIA & Mossad) Combined Intelligence Operations, (BWI/IDF) Blackwater Inc. and Israeli Defense Force combined forces and all military activities in the border region, a move intended to end different agencies operating under different marching orders. And to develop and implement a comprehensive overall strategy to address the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan and to that end, all previous restriction upon use of remotely piloted Predator aircraft, and missiles firings, and conducting raids on the soil of Pakistan are null and void. (JSOC/CIA) Senior Operative, and will notify but not request the permission of the government of Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations.
I'm not getting all this.
(JSOC/CIA) ABOVE JOINT CHIEFS PAYGRADE! (PART ONE)
The (JSOC/CIA) Joint Special Operations Forces Command / Central Intelligence Agent Senior Operative, for the Afghanistan Sector, Preparing the Battlefield Operation is above the pay grade of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, Gen. David "Betray Us" Petraeus, Gen. Ray Odieano, and the Commanding General of the (US/MIC) & (NATO/ISAF) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization/ International Security Assistance Force, General David McKiernan, and far above Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman and a (U.S.) military spokesman, answering only to the Imperial President of the United States Military Industrial Complex.
SECOND INCURSION OF SIX ATTACKS! (PART ONE)
On Monday (14th) September the (JSOC) Joint Special Operations Forces Command began yet another incursion, the second incursion mission in a series of (6) six attacks on Pakistan at boarder post " 27, who opened fire upon two Chinook Helicopters as they passed over the post and continued into Pakistan Territory a distance of (100km) to (150km) to Angor Adda, a village in the tribal region of South Waziristan. Pakistani boarder post (27) units members gave pursuit and with the aid of tribal residents who were awoken by the Chinooks flying in and landing returned fire coming from troops leaving the helicopters and ended the incursion foray causing it to be aborted. At the same time US armored vehicles were also seen moving on the Afghanistan side of the border, while US warplanes were seen overhead.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman and a (U.S.) military spokesman in Afghanistan said American helicopters had not come under fire. "I've checked into that and find it to be a spurious report, it did not happen. I've checked all the places that would know about something like that and it doesn't appear to be accurate."
This is interesting. Maybe you should identify your source.
but but but ... they're my neighbor.
I just borrowed a cup of sugar from them this morning.
That's pretty funny.
http://www.pubrecord.org/politics/320-palin-says-she-has-broad-authority-to-look-at-private-state-files.html
Palin Says She Has Broad Authority to Look At Private State Files
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is maneuvering to stop an investigation into an alleged abuse of power, in part, by claiming that she has an unlimited right to pry into the personnel records of all state employees, including the state trooper who divorced her sister.
Palin"s new position was summed up in a Sept. 9 letter from Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg to the state legislature, which has authorized an independent counsel probe into whether Palin and her staff illegally accessed confidential personnel records of her ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten.
The probe also focuses on Palin"s firing of state Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan in July after he refused to fire Wooten.
Colberg"s argument is that Palin can access confidential files of any state employee she chooses and thus the allegation that she got unauthorized access to Wooten"s personnel records " by whatever means " is moot.
It looks like we are going to loose another election because Obama decided to play nice, he needs to play hard ball with these phony republicans. Where the hell is hell is Hillary Clinton? Does she really thinks if Obama looses she'll be forgiven.
The point is that Senator McCain has been pushing for Georgia`s Nato membership. If Angela Merkel and others had not insisted on Georgia first getting its act together Georgia might well have been a member at the time it precipitated the present crisis by unilaterally leaving the headquarters of the joint peace keeping forces and shelling the capital of Southern Ossetia. On what grounds - if any - would Sarah Palin consider war with Russia necessary?
We are getting a bit concerned over here in Europe.
Palin believes that Alaska will be refuge during Armageddon. If one were to believe that the end of the world was coming (often marked to December 21, 2012 or during the next Presidential term), how might it effect your decision making? I want someone who believes and whose policies support hope , not instigate their private nightmare.
ISRAELS BLOODY HANDS (PART TWO)
While a Battalion of Blackwater & Israeli mercenaries, advisors and trainers, worked with Georgian military units down to battalion levels. Who also bear the responsibility for the bloodshed, were the Soviets supposed use sling shots and paint balls?" Plus Israel had intended to use the former Soviet Republic of Georgia"s airfields to launch a pre-emptive strike against Shi-ite Persian Iranian nuclear facilities
And, this is called pay back is a bitch, as the Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, has approved the sale of advanced Soviet Russian weaponry to Iran, selling their best anti-aircraft systems the sophisticated SAM-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran making Iran virtually invulnerable to attack from Israel or the US. And, let us not forget much closer problems to Israel then Iran, like Hamas and Hezbollah And, the placement of task force to a naval base in Syria with an aircraft carrier and subs to the Mediterranean, all the better to bollix up US strategy in the Middle East.
ISRAELS BLOODY HANDS (PART ONE)
Now, to his credit or insanity Bill does post a lot of my rantings it all depends on your thinking on those who live north of America"s Finest County. But the defense of the (51st) State was a little in the realm of an excuse the dog ate my homework. This is not the movie War Games, and tic-tat-toe, its real Grand Chessboard Chess, and the clock is running.
WILLIAM "BILL" BRADLEY: "In politico-military affairs, Israel, which has its own long-standing and complex relationship with Moscow, has agreed to stop providing arms to Georgia. Syria has offered a permanent port, which would place Russian naval forces in the Middle East."
But in reality, to counter Georgia's U.S.-trained army, using tanks, multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery used against the Soviet (85th) Army and Volstok Chechnya Irregular's Brigade, heavy military hardware supplied the former Soviet Russian Republic of the Ukraine and Israeli arms dealers, and businessmen who acted as the arms and weaponry supplier, selling and exporting ($200M) two hundred million dollars or more in military equipment to the former Soviet Russian Republic of Georgia Government, in offensive weapons, which included the sale by Israel of at least eight different models of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) and Israel also sought to export main battle tanks to Georgia, as Israeli Mossad Intelligence Agents and CIA worked together with the Pentagon in the operation of an important intelligence station in Tbilisi.
See William Bradley's Profile
The Georgians were using previously acquired hardware from Israel.
(1901 Standard US 45) Vs (2001 Standard US 9MM)
The question is were did you get your information? The question is does a second hand weapon make you any less dead than a new weapon, the (45MM) will knock you down, tear off an arm, take your head half off, a (9mm) won't knock you down, tear off an arm or take your head half off, but in the right place, your still just as dead. Does a (1980's) Duce and Half get men were there needed?
And, the Mossad working with the CIA? And, (IDF/BWI) Israeli Defense Forces and Blackwater Inc., working with the Georgian Military at Battalion Level? And, the planned use of Georgian Airfields for a preemptive attack on Shi-ite Persian Iran?
The dog ate my homework?
I think he said Israel isn't doing that anymore.
It is a good bet that Sarah Palin has never heard of the International Republican Institute (see www.iri.org) of which John McCain has been the chairman of the board for more that 20 years. It's a non profit corp. that spends 75 to 100 million dollars each year undermining governments and supporting insurgencies. It has been asked to leave a number of countries. Its web site shows and active and on going interest In Georgia (oil pipeline, do you thinki maybe?) According to the NYT, IRI has been cited by the US security folks as working against the US foreign policy. When the President of Georgia spoke with McCain over the telephone before starting the shooting war there, you can bet it was because of McCain's role in IRI and its promise of money and arms and coordinating with Israel which had "advisors" on the ground there because it wants to refine the oil coming from the pipeline built to circumvent the Russian interests in the area. Congress needs to have immediate hearings on the role of McCain and who is behind it all.
Excellent introduction for reality for the likes of Palin.
Assuming she cares.
One thing worries me and that is a bunch of born-agains in power who believe in the End Times and want to hasten them. War with Russia? Nukes? Great. Bring on the Rapture.
That really worries me. Medieval minds and 21st Century weapons. I've noted this problem in the Middle East. It could be even more deadly in the US.
See William Bradley's Profile
Thanks!
Steve Schmidt hasn't asked me to help with the briefings.
What's that crazy Christian rapture series of novels called again?
"Left Behind?"
See William Bradley's Profile
That's it.
Of course you have absolutely no evidence that Palin thinks that way or would conduct policy in the fashion you suggest. Where's the evidence?
need more?
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080922/hiddenbase_video