The Sunshine Empire

With the summer Olympics and war in Georgia raging, there is another thing to keep in mind. Earlier when Kosovo pushed for it’s independence from Russian ally Serbia, the west quickly recognized the breakaway republic over Russian objections. NATO bombed Serbia for just this purpose. Now I feel what the Russians are doing to Georgia is reprehensible, but not at all surprising. Russia is nothing but an animal being more and more cornered, and they lashed out at the further encroachment of NATO onto it’s doorstep. To feel that the Russians would react differently is to not understand the mindset of a people that were brutally invaded twice during the 20th century. I don’t feel that NATO’s aim is to invade Russia, but we here in America would not just yawn off Russia stationing troops in Cuba or Mexico with the same kind ease that we expect the Russians to have with essentially the same thing. The political commentary class has been trying to frame this according to what the Presidential candidates would or would not due, but what should be clear is a clear understanding of the history and politics of the world.

The political and historical reality is that the Bush administration had made plenty of promises about supporting Georgia, and the people on the streets of Tbilisi are still asking western journalists when the Americans will be coming to save them. The administration does not have the ability to do anything except fly home Georgian troops that had been in Iraq. The President himself during the run up to the Iraq war and during the demands that he leave Iraq has said that the sacrifice is important to prove that America’s word is good. Yet he feels no need to back up his word in Georgia. Bush did not cause the Russians to invade, but he certainly has left the Georgians hanging on many of his broken promises.