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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| John Bolton: After Russia's invasion of Georgia, what now for the West? |
| 2008-08-17 |
| As bad as the bloodying of Georgia is, the broader consequences are worse. The United States fiddled while Georgia burned, not even reaching the right rhetorical level in its public statements until three days after the Russian invasion began, and not, at least to date, matching its rhetoric with anything even approximating decisive action. This pattern is the very definition of a paper tiger. Sending Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to Tbilisi is touching, but hardly reassuring; dispatching humanitarian assistance is nothing more than we would have done if Georgia had been hit by a natural rather than a man-made disaster. Very lengthy but a worthy read. Balance at the link. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #15 Excellent analysis Jolutch Mussolini7800. I would definately like to hear your view and predictive analysis for the future of the FSU break-away states. Thank you! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-17 14:27 |
| #14 As opposed to the luxury of commenting pseudonymously at a group blog. You tell him like it is. You don't take crap from anybody. I also don't post 'I am an Expert and this is how it should have been done' commentary either. In case you haven't noticed - Bolton ain't the the State Department no more. At this point, he's no better than any retired general, airline pilot, or politician that gets a gig on the networks. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-17 14:14 |
| #13 Jolutch Mussolini7800 trailing wife I concur with both JM7800 and trailing wife, Putie-Pute in one stupid blunder has thrown away 20 years of hard won World status and rekindled strong anti-Russian sentiments around the World, for what? A useless exercise in Georgia?? What ever infinitesimal gain was won by Russia's clumsy invasion will now only cause it scorn from the rest of the World and forge even stronger ties between the remaining nations who are still emerging from the olde Soviet Empire's Iron Curtain. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-17 13:47 |
| #12 I also agree with Jolutch Mussolini7800. Russia showing their colors has to be a good thing in the long run. They are a thug. Not the threat they were during the cold war, just an over-sized third world nation that still has some advanced tech and smart scientists left over from their hay-day. Russia needs to be managed until Putin is gone, and/or he starts to realize that having a balwark of allies would be a far better future than little enemies. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-08-17 13:17 |
| #11 Must be nice to have the luxury of commenting from the gallery. As opposed to the luxury of commenting pseudonymously at a group blog. You tell him like it is. You don't take crap from anybody. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-08-17 12:15 |
| #10 I know I'm a pollyanna (with all that implies, except for the paraplegia, thank goodness!) but I agree with Jolutch Mussolini7800. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-17 11:53 |
| #9 This probably isn't a popular stance at RB, but I think we're handling it about as well as can be hoped. The Russians have made a mistake here and the rest of the world has let them know it. The Georgians, of course, made one also when they let themselves be baited into attacking when they should have been handling this diplomatically. Russia is going to obtain some short-term local advantage but at a tremendous cost. They've scared the crap out of all their neighbors, who now see the BEAR as having regained its old ferocity, and that's not going to be conducive to cooperation or friendly relations. If anything, it will drive all of them closer to the U.S. Poland's signing of the missile defense treaty is proof of that. I'm sure that the treaty's Polish critics have been keeping a pretty low profile since Russia's Georgian adventure started. Long story short, all Russia's neighbors have been afraid of it for a long time. They were just beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, Russia was turning a new leaf and the world really was different. Georgia being invaded showed them their fears of Russia were completely justified; all the progress Russia had made in rehabilitating its reputation is now vanished. Bad move on Russia's part; good chance for the U.S. to look like the friend of a bullied small country. |
| Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-08-17 10:59 |
| #8 After vetoing it back in April (which Russia took as a signal) Merkel now says Germany backs Georgia's application to join NATO |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-08-17 10:52 |
| #7 Okay, all you RB'ers I'm very interested in what you think Bush/US should have done and when, publicly (ie no relying on back stage diplomacy etc. cause we have absolutely no idea what's going on there). I'm as hawkish as anyone in a general sense, but, in this case I don't know enough to have a reasoned position on this. So what should have been done and said for public consumption? The limits would seem to be nuking the Russians to ignoring the whole thing as none of our business. What's the appropriate middle? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-08-17 09:58 |
| #6 Must be nice to have the luxury of commenting from the gallery. Yes, they moved Cassandra to the 'galleries' too in Troy. She was such a shrew, always a downer, no fun to be around let alone pay any serious attention to. Worked out for them didn't it. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-08-17 08:24 |
| #5 Bolton makes sense to me. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-08-17 08:00 |
| #4 The Cold War is back---World starts making sense again? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-17 06:14 |
| #3 Must be nice to have the luxury of commenting from the gallery. Who the Hell knows where the gallery is anyways¿ ? ¿ The Mod Squad? ~:) From the Armchair then... some of us ArmChairs are better and Stronger at holding the Load Up! <|:) |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-17 02:31 |
| #2 What's next? Our leaders can the unsupported rhetoric. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-08-17 01:47 |
| #1 Must be nice to have the luxury of commenting from the gallery. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-17 00:08 |