August 12, 2008
For those of you who like to keep track of these things, the Russian invasion of Georgia is the most important story of the 21st century thus far. Yes, more important globally than 9/11. Here's why. After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the world celebrated the end of the Cold War and the surging dominance of freedom and prosperity for all the world.
Dozens of ex-Soviet republics began building capitalist economies and freely-elected governments. Though slow in coming, prosperity did start to arrive in the more free, industrious countries. Well, there was another element common to those countries that prospered most. They were the ones least tied to the Russian government.
I totally agree with his assessment. Yes, we Americans are completely justified in our view that 9/11 changed the world, but in the global view it didn't. Terrorism has been a staple in Western Civilization since the French Revolution. The means is how it has changed. The fact that our oceans no longer protect us because the world is such a smaller place is just a new reality we, as Americans must deal with. We can no longer become isolationist nation as we once were at the end of WW1. And, we have to stop evil and aggression at the beginning not wait for it to grow and consume the world as it did during WW2. Let's continue with DPundead:Now, Putin's end-game has been made public and we are in a very dire situation. Russia claims they were only responding to Georgian aggression (that would be hilarious if it weren't so horrible) but, of course, their 'response' could never have been manufactured on the fly in a single day. Ask anyone:
Let's be clear: For all that US commentators and diplomats are still chattering about Russia's "response" to Georgia's actions, the Kremlin spent months planning and preparing this operation. Any soldier above the grade of private can tell you that there's absolutely no way Moscow could've launched this huge ground, air and sea offensive in an instantaneous "response" to alleged Georgian actions.
As I pointed out Saturday, even to get one armored brigade over the Caucasus Mountains required extensive preparations. Since then, Russia has sent in the equivalent of almost two divisions - not only in South Ossetia, the scene of the original fighting, but also in separatist Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast.
The Russians also managed to arrange the instant appearance of a squadron of warships to blockade Georgia. And they launched hundreds of air strikes against preplanned targets.
Final thoughts from DPundead:
Now we have a newly independent nation (and staunch ally of the United States) with Russia's boot on their throat and not one nation has lifted a finger to help them. Reigns are being tightened diplomatically on existing satellite states (Belarus) while nations who grew too independent are being reminded who is really in charge. To Russia, their sovereignty was a cute phase but it is time for them to stop playing around and come back into the fold.
Georgia is begging for help and the west absolutely must respond. Not with words or removing Russia from the G8 but with, at least, direct aid. If that isn't sufficient, Russia must be stopped militarily. Russian conquest of Georgia must not be allowed to stand any more than Iraq's conquest of Kuwait. Georgia is just the first domino in a long string of ex-Soviet nations on Putin's wishlist and it must not be allowed to fall. If the west allows an ally to be wholly consumed by the Bear, it will not sate the appetite any more than Czechoslovakia appeased Hitler.
That's a much bigger story than terrorism to me. This is the kind of story that leads to world war. Thing is, maybe it should.
Posted by: Robert Woolwine at
10:22 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 806 words, total size 6 kb.
33 queries taking 0.1273 seconds, 94 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
