.
Russians are definitely NOT like Americans. There are no pretense, no politically corrected twists of words as to why this is happening. Nothing. They attack Ossetia (a town from Georgia) perhaps for oil? and that's that.
Everyone just watches. No explanation forthcoming. Wow.
4 comments:
Miriam, I posted this on another blog on August 11, 2008. My comments may not be a hundred percent accurate, but I believe they hold a scintilla of truth.
Putin wants to use the Georgian crisis as leverage to keep a Missile Defense Shield out of Eastern Europe.
We have seen this gambit before in the Cuban Missile Crisis:
"President of the United States John F. Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with the Soviets to dismantle the missiles in Cuba in exchange for a no invasion agreement and a secret removal of the Jupiter and Thor missiles in Turkey". [Wikipedia]
Putin has voiced his objections to the Missile Defense System on several occasions, and has only recently offered a compromise.
That the situation in Eastern Europe is analogous to that of Cuba is not lost on Putin:
"Such a threat is being set up on our borders," he said.
It's doubtful that he'll opt for the compromise that he suggested (a ploy to distract us from his real intentions), knowing, as he does, our preoccupation in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and with the nuclear threat from Iran.
Putin knows his pieces are better positioned than Bush's.
And he kept it that way by objecting to, and resisting, Georgia's membership in NATO.
He will no doubt continue his incursion into Georgia, and occupy it for a time, until he and Bush can work out a deal whereby (as in the Cuban Missile Crisis) we will give up our ambitions to place a Missile Shield in Europe.
And Putin will get a lot of support from our allies, as they pressure the US to reach some deal with the Russians. Western Europe needs the oil and gas from the pipelines running through Georgia.
"The gas and oil pipelines that run through Georgia are of strategic importance to Western Europe because they reduce dependence on Russian supplies and do not cross Russian territory."
Bush miscalculated Putin's anger over the Shield, and his willingness to go to war with Georgia to cut off this oil/gas lifeline to Europe, as the way to assure that the US wouldn't install the Shield.
Putin has made the first move, using an old gambit. Will Bush concede or bring to the fore a greater force?
Bush had to know (or should have known, especially since he can see into Putin's soul) that Putin would not back down to a threat on his front steps.
But knowing "W" it caught him off guard, just as 9-11 did, although he had advance warning that al-Quaeda wanted to strike inside the US.
Domino,
Thank you for this insight!
Georgia threw the first stone. Why?
Georgia threw the first stone because it thought the US had its back. Georgia's getting into NATO, has 300 troops in IRAQ, and one of McCain's campaign managers is a Georgian lobbyist.
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