Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark57
The fact is that, despite all the noise from Bush and McCain to the contrary, our "ally" was wrong. Georgia attacked South Ossetia, killing a lot of civilians many of whom are Russian citizens or hold Russian passports. Russia is going to take South Ossetia back at this point no matter what we or NATO or the UN wants to say about it. And if we or NATO or the UN makes too much noise about it they might take all of Georgia back as well.
The absolutely stupidest thing any American president could possibly do at this point is to attempt to intercede. I hope Bush isn't stupid enough to do anything like "inflict some losses on the Russians", but at this point the only thing we don't know about his stupidity is it's true depth.
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The article in your second post refutes your first post. This is Georgian territory, which has been in the control of separatists backed by Russian forces, the so called "peacekeepers." The Russians were there to keep the Georgians from subduing the rebel territory.
I agree that the Russians are fixing to take back as much of Georgia as they can. One wonders what other parts of the former Soviet Union they wish to take back.
It is pretty obvious we have little to offer militarily as a counter. But I cannot disagree more with the comment about our not "making too much noise" about it." This is partly aimed at us, at reducing our influence in the region while we are busy elsewhere, and about getting the Russians back on the road to dominating the region again. We need to show that this kind of thing is costly, whether we do so militarily, economically, or in some other fashion.
Edit: I agree, by the way, that the Georgians should not have attached the rebel city. It was NOT a smart move. But it IS their city.
And there are ample grounds for opposing these kinds of separatist movements. As we have seen in the former Yugoslavia, there is tremendous potential for instability and chaos in these restive ethnic regions. Often, as here, the instability is enhanced by the policies of a neighboring country with whom there is an ethnic affinity.