The U.S. Is Playing Russian Roulette In Georgia and Beyond

And the Sane people of the World, myself included, cannot understand why.

The Bush Administration Seeks To Insert The U.S. Into the Conflict

Why is the military always the answer to every problem for the United States? It is always the first thing U.S. leaders think about in a crisis. It’s as if no other options exist for these people.

Well, it appears that the Georgian conflict could eventually escalate. The Bush administration has announced that it will send humanitarian aid to Georgia via the U.S. military. The Bush administration also says that it will take control of Georgian ports. The question is - how are they going to do this without a possible confrontation? They know that Russia has blockaded Georgian ports, taking full control of most of them.

The following is from the International Herald Tribune:

On a day the White House evoked emotional memories of the cold war, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday that the relief effort was intended "to show to Russia that we can come to the aid of a European ally, and that we can do it at will, whenever and wherever we want." At a minimum, American forces in Georgia will test Russia's pledge to allow relief supplies into the country; they could also deter further Russian attacks, though at the risk of a potential military confrontation.

"We expect Russia to ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit," Bush said. "We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country."President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, who has sharply criticized what he called a failure of the West to support his country, declared the U.S. relief operation a "turning point" in the conflict, which began last Thursday when Georgian forces tried to establish control in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, only to be routed by the Russians.

And what did the Russians do right after the U.S. came out with these statements about keeping Ports and rail lines open? They re-captured a Western port, took more prisoners, and blew up the rail line between Tblisi and Gori, cutting off an important link. And that was simply to prove a point and it allowed the Russians to thumb their noses right back at the U.S. .....you see, everytime that the U.S. makes these grand statements and demands that Russia do something (instead of talking to Russia, listening and truely negotiating in good faith about solving these wider issues once and for all) it only complicates the situation. It makes it more difficult for EU and OSCE diplomats to mediate.

Complicating matters even more....John McCain issued a statement last week stating that if he becomes President, he would push hard to have Georgia included in NATO. Thanks a lot John McCain. Essentially he is saying that he wants to all but guarantee a U.S. conflict with Russia if he is elected, as if we need any new wars, not to mention a war of that magnitude. The U.S. can't handle the two wars that it is currently entangled in. Complete madness!!!

Amazingly Barack Obama, the so-called "change" candidate, followed suit... saying that Georgia should be a part of NATO. That was the last straw for me in terms of how I view Barack Obama and his candidacy.

I knew that the longer this conflict dragged on, there would be a greater risk of the Bush administration doing something stupid like sending in the military's "humanitarian aid". Why in the world would the U.S. send troops (of any kind) to a conflict zone like Georgia unless it was seeking confrontation?

The danger with this situation is that a misunderstanding could lead to a larger conflict. We are dealing with 3 irrational government leaderships - In Georgia, Russia, and the United States. Increased involvement by the U.S. will only increase the risk of an incident. No one will be able to say that it was unforeseen if an incident occurs.

This new U.S. mission may be a deliberate attempt by the Bush administration to inject the U.S, further into the conflict. This “humanitarian” mission in Georgia may also be an effort by the Bush Administration to get the U.S. involved in a war without seeking Congressional approval. The guise of “humanitarianism” is always a convenient tool for avoiding Congressional approval for wars. Why a large humanitarian mission now in the absence of a permanent peace deal? And why is the U.S. so eager to take the lead role, when the EU had already taken this responsibility?

I also find it interesting that Bush is sending a humanitarian mission via the military so soon in Georgia. It all seems so disingenuous. If the U.S. were really concerned about humanitarianism, then why in the Hell hasn’t he sent significant help to Darfur, where there is a real genocide underway….responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Africans, and displacing hundreds of thousands more?

What is really going on here is that the U.S. seems to be itching for a fight with Russia. At the least, the U.S. wants to continue poking Russia in the eye. In fact, we are in a frightening situation where war hawks control the governments of all 3 principal Countries in this conflict, particularly in the U.S. and Russia. In the U.S., we have an administration still controlled by neocons who long for a return of old Cold War tensions. They dream of taking us back to that period. They seem to welcome the idea of confrontation with Russia. Consequences? Who cares about consequences? They don’t care about the consequences of their hard-line approach. The rush they get from Cold War nostalgia overshadows the consequences.

On the Russian side….you have some of the same nonsense going on…. A group of ex-KGB men who also want to return to their old Cold War glory. Putin has made clear that he wanted to return Russia to the kind of status that it held during the Soviet days.

Any humanitarian mission should be part of a larger international effort - not an effort led by the U.S. military. The “humanitarian” mission seems to be about machismo…ego, and an effort by the U.S. to puff its chest. In fact, this whole conflict is about egos. Pride and emotionalism have trumped rational thought in Georgia, Russia and the U.S.

The U.S. intends to entrench itself even deeper into Georgia, by stepping up military contacts (despite the U.S. trained Georgian Army being trounced once already), and providing more economic aid. Senator Joe Biden - a possible VP choice for Barack Obama, recently took a trip to Georgia promising more money from American taxpayers. (I am amazed at how fast they move for European Countries, but have yet to provide the same urgency for Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed....where there really is a genocide taking place).

As if that's not enough, the U.S. and Germany, among others, have essentially promised NATO membership for Georgia, with Ukraine not far behind. This is despite the fact that it makes no good sense whatsoever, and many experts have sounded the alarm about such a move. Some believe that NATO is like a book club, or a treehouse gang. They seem to forget that NATO is a one for all, all for one military defense alliance. The risks of a conflict increases, and the burden on member countries increases (esp. the larger nations) whenever a new nation is added. Furthermore, NATO has not traditionally been in the business (until recently) of including unstable Countries, and countries that are in conflict, and have regular skirmishes with their neighbors. Why The U.S. wants to make this move is beyond comprehension and goes against everything that is sane & rational.

Related Links

Article On Georgia and NATO from March 08

Article from the New York Times

More on NATO

Georgia Still on Course for NATO membership

Obama Reads From The Bush Script on Georgia

Obama's response to the situation in Georgia shows a lack of understanding for what is going on in the region.

His comment today (pretty generic):

"Russia should respect the territorial integrity of Georgia".

In other words.... an Obama advisor told him what to say. But it shows that he would likely be a blind supporter of Georgia just like Bush and McCain... daring Russia into a confrontation. NOT GOOD Senator Obama. This is right from the Bush Administration talking points. Here you have a situation where the two war mongers and the Democrat all agree. This is one of the main problems with the Democrats that I often discuss here on this blog.

Bush was in Beijing while all of this was going on, and once again he was asleep at the wheel (what a joke of a President). Instead of immediately going into a crisis meeting with PM Putin to resolve the issue, he reiterated his flawed position, likely agitating the Russians even further....as he often does. I have said it a million times... that this is the wrong Administration to have in the middle of a crisis like this.

If Obama actually understood the situation, he should take a more neutral, middle of the road approach...taking no sides. He should also remove U.S. troops from Geogia... that's if we manage to get through this crisis. This just raises more questions about Obama...and reminds me of the other instances where he has been willing to sell out the best interests of the American people, for the sake of what foreign governments want- namely his approach to Israel... but there have been others.

Senator Obama, the U.S. either supports self determination or it doesn't. You either support self determination or you don't. You can't have one set of rules for Kosovo, and another set of rules for South Ossetia or any other region, just because they don't want to align themselves with the U.S.

Obama is just as hypocritical as Bush and McCain on this. On one hand, Obama wants to break U.S. dependence on foreign energy & he claims that the U.S. should not have conflicts over oil...but I guess he doesn't understand one of the reasons why the U.S. is in Georgia - to maintain oil pipelines and to secure more oil pipeline deals for America's big oil industry. Oil is one of the root causes of the competition between Russia and the U.S. in that particular region.

This is why the U.S. is doomed as a nation. This kind of reckless and nonsensical foreign policy cannot be sustained. There will have to be a fundamental change to the American imperialist mentality.

Hopefully Obama will take some time to study the situation in Georgia a little more...and refine his position. The U.S. should be in the role of mediator and peacemaker in Georgia, rather than an instigator. It should be a neutral party that will push hard for negotiations. It should not entangle itself in this conflict...or any other like it in that part of the World. These conflicts have been raging on and off for generations, with ethnic and cultural differences that were well defined long before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Obama should be calling for an end to fighting and for Peace Talks.... from a neutral position...and he shouldn't waste anymore time doing so.

Fighting Breaks Out In Georgia

The U.S. and the Russians Are Once Again In A Standoff in Europe - Thanks to the Bush Administration

Conflict has erupted in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Georgian troops have attempted to reclaim the breakaway territory of South Ossetia. South Ossetia is a small enclave of about 70,000 people that is culturally & economically connected more with Russia. The breakaway region, backed by Russia, wants independence. Abkhazia is another region that wants to break from the Georgian government.

On the other side is Georgia, backed by the United States. The Georgian government does not want to give up control of the South Ossetia region. The U.S. has been ignoring warning signs of a conflict for months. In fact, the U.S. has been an instigator, escalating tensions. Ironically, this is all taking place as the Olympic Games are starting in Beijing. Leave it up to Bush and the United States to screw up the Olympics. Almost everywhere the U.S. goes, it brings nothing but war, chaos and trouble. This is why the U.S. is a growing pariah in the World. The U.S. couldn't even agree to call an end to the fighting at the UN. And it's ironic that Bush lectures the Chinese and other Countries about Democracy, freedom and allowing self determination, yet at the very moment that the U.S. is giving these lectures, it does not support self determination for the people of South Ossetia. This is despite pushing for Kosovo Independence. It is clear that U.S. political leaders only support freedom and self determination when it is convenient.

I have warned several times before that this was one of the biggest hotspots in the World. It is more volatile than the Korean DMZ in terms its likelihood for conflict...and it could have global consequences. Russian troops patrol the disputed region and thousands of U.S. troops are in Georgia. This could get as ugly as Berlin.... maybe worse. In Berlin, conflict was averted. We seem to be already past that threshold in Georgia. It's amazing how a tiny region of just 70,000 people could have the potential to create a regional conflict that could impact so many others. Remember WWI began over nonsense and it ended up being one of the most costly wars in human history, killing millions upon millions of people. And nations ended up in a stalemate.... gaining very little if anything that was worth the cost.

The Georgian conflict is another example of the U.S. being asleep at the wheel. The incompetence and recklessness of the Bush Administration exacerbates these conflicts, and has wasted so many lives already. Will we survive the next 6 months of this administration? Will we survive the policies of the next President? Who knows. My confidence that we will come out o.k. keeps eroding from one week to the next. But U.S. foreign policy has to change. In the Georgian conflict, the U.S. has allowed the Georgians to dictate policy, potentially at our expense, and even when it is not in our interests. It's another case of U.S. foreign policy decisions being made by foreign Presidents and Prime Ministers...and we simply follow along.

This latest conflict centers around oil and oil transit routes. The U.S. and Russia are competing for defacto control of the region so that they can control the flow of the regions natural resources. Another reason why the U.S. needs to end its dependence on foreign energy. The U.S. has few compelling, overriding interests in Georgia. Yet we sent a few thousand U.S. troops there after 9/11 under the guise of terrorism. The U.S. promised the Russians and other nations that U.S. troops would be out by now, but the Bush Administration did not keep its word. As a result, we have a situation that some analysts had feared...a new Cold War front.

See More Information About Georgia and the Roots of the Current Conflict