August 15, 2008
One Of The Qualities For Which The United States Is Known…
…is that of helping our defeated enemies rebuild and letting them have face, rather than colonializing them or simply leaving them to fester in ruins.
When we won the Cold War, and the former Soviet Socialist Republics as well as the Iron Curtain countries gained their independence from underneath the heavy thumb of Russia, we could have left Moscow to fend for itself, but instead we poured the largesse of the American People into the task of helping them get back on their feet.
Perhaps in Russia’s case, we made a mistake.
Witness their invasion of Georgia, and as Caroline Glick sums up so well, the effects the entire affair, including the lackluster U.S. response to same, may well have on much of the rest of the world, including the Middle East.
Georgia can now claim membership in an exclusive club whose other members include a number of Cubans of Bay of Pigs fame, the South Vietnamese, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and who knows, maybe one day the Taiwanese!
But I digress.
Russia has been becoming increasingly uppity since Putin first arrived at the helm and is continuing to do so under his puppet, Dmitry Medvedev.
Can you imagine, they’re even threatening possible air strikes in Poland should that country manifest its agreement with the U.S. to install a missile interceptor base on its soil.
“Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent,” Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.
He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia’s military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them.” Nogovitsyn that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.
At a news conference earlier Friday, Nogovitsyn had reiterated Russia’s frequently stated warning that placing missile-defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic would bring an unspecified military response. But his subsequent reported statement substantially stepped up a war of words.
Where is the late, great Ronald Reagan when we need him!?
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=908
August 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Time flies. Remember when Gori, Georgia was known as the hometown of Joseph Stalin?
August 15th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Hi, Seth.
Well, I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of the Ronald Reagan’s in this country. Now Poland is also in danger, but we will sit on our hands and watch. God help us and everyone else if Obama gets in power.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
August 16th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Knowing (or at the very least - expecting) the UN will do nothing regarding Russia’s open threat toward Poland, then NATO should stand up cllectively and tell Russia she is once again looking at facing her old Nemesis. In view of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, then international threats uttered by Russia should be taken seriously and dealt with seriously. But alas, the backbone of this world seems to reside within the political ideology known as American conservatives - no one else seems even remotely interested in Russia these days…
August 16th, 2008 at 10:56 am
BB –
Gori also has a history going back quite a ways before Stalin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gori,_Georgia
Gayle –
Amen! With Obama in the White House, the last of our national spine, such as it is, and therefore that of the entire western world, will disappear entirely.
Alex –
Thanks, I’ll try.
Old Soldier –
I still think Turtle Bay would make for an excellent condo complex, perhaps even a great place to house the homeless or something — anything but what it’s used for now!
NATO should very well get on its hind legs and do its job, demonstrating for the Russians that if they want to reminisce about the good old days of the Cold War, we can more than oblige them.
However, with American conservatives being largely ignored by our own government, I fear that not only Russia, but China and our Islamic foes (Iran, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, etc) as well, will be permitted, as time goes by, to proliferate their threats to the free world to the point that once the dangers become evident even to the most lame-brained politicians and diplomats it will be too late — the cost of dealing with our combined enemies, assuming we still can, will be terrible.
August 16th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
This is the prelude to Putin rebuilding the USSR. I beleive this was a test to see just how much they could get by with BEFORE world reaction especially the US would come out against them. He has been trying to rebuild for some time now and this is the first move.
Once KGB always KGB. Plus you cannot trust someone whose name sounds like bodily function!
Even with the treaty, I’ll bet that Russia only gives up a portion of what they occupy until they can fabricate another excuse to invade another former Soviet sattelite.
August 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
A couple observations:
1. Regarding “Georgia can now claim membership in an exclusive club”..they are also 2nd in the world in military spending per GDP..right after N. Korea.
2. If the current admin thought it was critical, would they not rush right over? Or will they sit tight and blame the libs?
3. The US accounts for 45% of the world’s military spending, (Russia 3%)yet some sources complain our groundforces are pretty much tied up elsewhere. Would it be wise, or should we commit them?
4. We stood by while http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia-Russia_relations this festered the last few years, training some of the Georgian troops to be NATO, but not attempting to be a broker when brokering was still possible.
5. Yeah, Jimmy Carter did it!
August 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Ken –
I am in complete agreement. I believe that Putin has yearned for a revival of the Soviet Union ever since he gained power. He has certainly policed the state toward that end and his record of justice/human rights has echoed that.
His incursion into Georgia and his blunt, one-sided approach to diplomatic relations are certainly reminiscent of the leadership of the U.S.S.R.
BB –
1. If you were Georgia, per say, with the proximity of Russia and its involvements in your territorial assets to consider, wouldn’t you want to be militarily prepared for war? I refer you to recent developments over there…
2. The current administration has not been all that forthcoming with brilliant or even logical ideas of late, either here nor abroad. Look, for example, at their Balkans policies.
3. See #2, with the added provision that the U.S. isn’t the only country involved in NATO.
4. Yeah, he did!
August 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
“their Balkans policies.” We had Balkan policies?
As I recall, the last westerner with great interest in the Balkans was Churchill. Wasted 9,000 ANZAC and 20,000 British lives at Gallipoli before pulling out.
Then, he wanted to do it again before we talked him out of it in 1944. Ought we leave the place to Vlad the Impaler?
August 18th, 2008 at 8:52 am
BB –
The administration does, indeed, have Balkans policies, and they are disgraceful at the very least.
http://www.mail-archive.com/news@antic.org/msg10632.html
August 18th, 2008 at 8:58 am
It is so sad after the jubilation of 15 to 20 years ago to see this happen to the Russian dream of freedom and the hope for peace. Of course the moonbats will insist that it’s Bush’s fault. I put the blame on Putin.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Shoprat –
Absolutely.
Putin longs for a return to the days of the U.S.S.R.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This also might be a factor as to why we left Georgia without substantial help and support upon Russia’s invasion.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:54 am
AOW –
Sorry for the ultra-late response, but I’ve been beyond swamped, rarely at the computer and am even now preparing to leave the country both to console the family of a contractor I lost and then fly down to inspect the finished project.
Sadly, the last paragraph in your linked article sums up today’s U.S. leadership all too well:
This issue desperately needs to be exposed. Sadly, our government—Republicans and Democrats alike—consistently allows itself to be outsmarted by its enemies because of naïveté and a broken political structure, as we bury our heads in the sand and the Saudis continue to lavish massive amounts of money upon their fawning American supporters, buying the support of influential politicians and bureaucrats while funding mosques, schools and hate-filled Wahhabi-Salafist textbooks right here in the U.S.A. and around the world.
I fear this will not change until there’s no longer anything we can do to prevent what can only be called total disaster, not only for the United States, but for the rest of the western world as well.
September 1st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
It’s great that you have a life beyond the blogging and such Seth, some of us who work on the internet like myself afford us the time resulting in being too attached to the computer and in some cases the goings on in the world, which becomes overwhelming watching what’s really going on around the world led by the left of this country.
Your comment closer above is brilliant and spot on, it will take a complete city or even two being completely annihilated to wake up the liberal crowd and the PC middle of the road RHINO’s pervading our government today, a scary future for us and the world as a whole since WE ARE THE WORLD, and that’s that.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Seth,
Safe journey!
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Ray –
WE ARE THE WORLD is a primary reason why the political left of this world is so dead set on bringing America as intended and as the nation has functioned to its knees, to changing our country to fit the template of failed or lesser countries.
They envision an impossible Utopian world in which all believe and think equally and all march to the beat of some “progressive” drum. Thy need to be careful what they wish for, as without the leadership of a strong America, the rest of the world will find itself in the proverbial “sticky wicket”. We feed, finance and protect so much of this planet that were we to join the rank and file among countries our absence in the leadership slot would leave a vacuum that would not soon be filled.
The naivety of our current leadership is playing right into the hands of those who would see us defeated and destroyed as the nation we have hitherto been, which is indeed a tragic state of affairs.
NH Meri Wido –
Thanks!
September 14th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
It’s all very depressing, isn’t it? We had such high hopes for Russia. So much for that!
Seth, my apologies for not being around but I have had a bout with a bad back, which got worse every day until I could barely sit. I seem to be doing much better now. I wish you well on your trip and am sorry it’s such a sad mission you’re embarking on. May God bless the man’s family and you as well.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Gayle –
My apologies for the rather lengthy delay in replying, but I have been out of the country for some time with only a few brief returns. I have been occupied in both a business project and on some personal business I cannot chronicle herein for a number of reasons I can’t go into.
I will be heading out again this evening, and am not sure when I’ll be either back or on-line.
My visit with the contractor’s family was indeed saddening, they loved him very much. It was the first time I’d ever had to make such a visit, but they made things extremely easy for me.