An update on the conflict between Georgia and Russia

with Vitaly Churkin
in Current Affairs
on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 * * * * *

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An update on the conflict between Georgia and Russia with Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative (Ambassador) of the Russian Federation.

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    1. Ketevan  11/06/2008 08:39 PM Report

      Russia did not fulfill any of the six points he mentions at the start of the interview. It's a double standard that the country functions on. I hope for more freedom and democracy for the Russian people.

    2. Ella  10/29/2008 04:00 PM Report

      Ok, now...why even bother to listen to these Russian Liars. The biggest punishment for Russians will be Isolation, so nobody even hears what Russian Pigs have to say! PUTIN, genetically created One, who is ready to sacrife Russia's well being and Future for his bloody ambitions.

      Enough of speculation! Georgians want to enjoy the Piece of their Land and those Pigs haven't given a chance for centures. Ask me! Russians used to say during the USSR, that Georgia is grat without Georgians! Why! What have they done? If World wants to BE Safe, Russia needs to fall into different States like It WIll, if they continue that way, so Those Pigs stop dreaming about power and conquering the WORLD!

    3. Lucky Barker  10/26/2008 05:57 AM Report

      !!!It is impossible to deceive me!!!

      The Russo-Georgian war exhibited the features of a proxy war pitting US-NATO imperialism against Russian nationalism. Russian forces thwarted Georgia's armed provocations and issued a challenge to American and NATO policies in the borderlands.

      When Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dimitry Medvedev ordered Russian forces to move through South Ossetia and cross the border into Georgia, they violated the UN charter. Their initial justification - defense of the Ossetians' right of self-determination - was as arbitrary as the one the United States and NATO put forward for their attacks on Kosovo and Serbia, where unlike in Russia's case their self-defense was never involved.

      So, in responding unilaterally to a very real threat that had actually materialized, did Russia commit an act of aggression? Neither the UN Security Council nor the General Assembly could make that legal determination. Even if they had, Russia wouldn't have taken seriously a US-NATO charge of aggression that served only to emphasize its accusers' egregious double standards.

      In the course of conducting the war, Georgian ground troops, tanks and some South Ossetian militia deliberately targeted civilians, committed acts of ethnic cleansing and wantonly destroyed civilian property in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, and in villages along South Ossetia's border with Georgia proper.

    4. Igor  09/24/2008 09:13 PM Report

      Message to Vitaly Churkin as you probably know there is no point of talking to westerners, Russia will always be Bad country, no matter if it done right or wrong ,they (westerners) want to feel good about themselves that is all to it, nothing else…

      Until that day when they’ll stop talking about Russia and compare it with BEAR, an animal there is no way to fix relationship with so called west.

    5. Miriani  09/02/2008 01:17 AM Report

      Timothy if you live in Krasnodar then i guess you hear a lot from Russian government directly or indirectly, using their almighty machine of mass media portraying Mr. Saakashvili as a Dracula who usually flies out at nights, kills poor Ossetians and poor Russian peacekeepers and drinks their blood.

      Russophobia, are you suggesting somebody is spreading it intentionally? did you ever think there might be a reason to that? the reason being: "all the things Russians did for centuries to "save" own "citizens" in other countries while ignoring and killing them in own country" (kursk disaster, beslan siege and Nord Ost, not to mention thousands of chechens who were also russian citizens)

      "might the U.S. be just a little jealous of her (Russia's) prosperity, resources, education, beauty and culture" - are you kidding? well maybe jealous of resources but PROSPERITY? CRAP SOVIET STYLE EDUCATION? BEAUTY AND CULTURE... HOW TO DOWN BOTTLES OF VODKA BEAUTIFULLY...

      "WW 3 or let the Russians take back Georgia" - I'd go for WW3, rather than russia and ussr again. god forbid!!!

      Dan, i dont really understand how you can be Armenian, Azerbaijanian and Georgian at the same time... let alone georgian, the rest makes you a perfect candidate for a president of Nagorni Karabakh and a real solution to that conflict. get over it. there will be no more ussr with free kilos of black caviar... cant you afford to buy as much as you want in the USA?

    6. No Disputin Rasputin  08/30/2008 09:42 AM Report

      We working hard to bring back good treatment center in Kremlin basement, so we can set record straight to whoever we get hold of. The problem of free media, to much lies fill publics head. That needs to be STOPPED.

    7. Preston  08/29/2008 12:57 AM Report

      Dan, new orders from Moscow. You are to "convince" your american friends that they must elect Obama as they next president. This is now more important than ever before, apparently our supreme leader, The Great Putin, had epiphany. He awake from sleep in cold sweat from nightmare that he try to eat McCain for lunch, but old man McCain skin too leathery tough to digest or even swallow, so he chew and chew until he head hurt massive headache. And then he got to think, Obama much better to eat for lunch. He much younger and innocent and most importantly "tender". He go ahead and tell menu writer to put veal-obama on menu. So you must use all you power to get more vote for Obama, you tell you gullible american friends, if they want still have Russian friend, they must vote Obama. They no vote Obama, they no more have Russian friend! Don't let us and you ancestors down, Dan. It would not be hard to change, Dan, to the menu, Dan. Hahahahahahaha!

    8. No Disputin Rasputin  08/25/2008 08:44 PM Report

      You tell them Dan. You make you father very proud and carry on Soviet tradition. I am working hard here in Russia behind scenes recognizing and finding anti-Putin sympathizers and bringing back KGB. I don't have to worry you defect, you conviction strong and I am saving case of caviar you name on it. There it is sitting, in big letters - DAN! hahahahahahahahahahahahahha!!!!

      Now, if only you see. I doing big dance for you! hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

    9. Dan  08/25/2008 06:04 PM Report

      While his idea of "weakness" is a plan europe could go with, my question is, would europe want to take a risk of pissing off Russia to point where it shuts off all natural gas pipelines going to Europe?

      His plan is playing with fire, and when you play with fire, you normally get burned.

    10. Agnie  08/25/2008 02:42 PM Report

      There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. Bush, Obama and McCain should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel as they deal with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html

    11. No Disputin Rasputin  08/22/2008 05:51 AM Report

      Excuse me, sock puppet. You call me Russian hating yankee. hahahahahahaha! I been called many thing before, but never THAT! In fact came here to show solidarity withe comrad Dan. Dan let a propose toast to you, you live among the stupid, fat Americans. No? I hear they very gullible people. hahahahahahahahahah! You infiltrate, change their mind with help of they own people like the sock puppet, and he do for free? hahahahahahaha! When we make USA implode, you must visit me and we share vodka,caviar and do our little dance, and don't forget bring sock puppet hahahahahahahahaha!!!

    12. sock puppet  08/21/2008 11:07 PM Report

      Preston aka Rasputin, thanks! Your unabashed sincerity is refreshing. Dissembling is so puerile it's depressing, I'm sure you totally agree.

    13. Dan  08/21/2008 04:31 PM Report

      Gina, while your opinion might make sense to some, your understanding of Communism and Socialism is lacking. if you want perfect example of Dicstatorship, I give you Cuba. USSR nor Russia was ever like Cuba. While some might look at it as wealth taking, I call it more a system of check and balances, but since the system is controled by humans, it automatically becomes flawed due to people being greedy and selfish, statement of which I previously have made. You also made a statemen ttowards what USSR did in Stalins era as facsism, that is a very bold statement to make for someone that does not understand that goverment, it also appears to me that you dont understand what facsism is, Facsism is designed to elimate race, culture, etc... to make one race, one culture viewed as way it should be. Explain to me how you got that from USSR. Please understand the word before you claim it to be something.

      as far as Russia/Georgia conflict, lets be realistic here, if Russia wanted to end Georgia, they would of done it back on August 8th. There are obvious issues going on that Russia is not too thrilled about in Georgia and taking every precaution necessary to avoid future South Ossetia bombings.

    14. No Disputin Rasputin  08/21/2008 04:14 PM Report

      Sock Puppet, why you dunz took duh words right out duh my mout. Dementia lurks in the loom. The non-believers must heed your warning or hence the wrath of the flying monkeys. Dementia. Oh!, all knowing one! I bow before you.

    15. sock puppet  08/21/2008 03:50 PM Report

      Need a philosopher's stone! Does the following qualify as comparative logic? You know: A:B:C =~ X:Y:Z kinda stuff? Well try this. Kennedy: Kruschev:Cuba is to Bush:Putin:Georgia. Works for me, but I admit to being rabidly biased. Jingo John's war mongering is crushingly depressing. All the moreso because I think the national psyche will put him in office. Alas! Don't pray for us. We deserve it NOT. Just yet another (well earned) step toward Armageddon.

      _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

      Along these lines, are there other irony loving cynics out there that's laughing up their sleeve re Iraq's proposing a "dreaded" US departure TIME-TABLE (ala Obama). The neocons will start shrilly yelling that we can't let their (alleged) sovereignty go to their head; besides they're trying to influence our elections (like we did theirs - patently unfair). Chuckle, chuckle! "It's an ill wind . . . ."

    16. Preston  08/21/2008 09:10 AM Report

      Pravada, all's fair in love and war. I would like to respond to the last sentence of your comment. Since the russian government doesn't know USA reality, and isn't forced to confront these issues. They should stick to their own business and stop trying to bullying their Democracy loving neighbors. WILL THAT EVER BE POSSIBLE?!

    17. American Pravda  08/21/2008 01:45 AM Report

      For those of you who are focused on what Russia is doing in general and how it reacted to Saakashvili's brutality, please make sure you understand these issues first. In addition, it is almost obvious that you have no relation to politics, especially in places like Russia. I am an American and in my opinion, based on visiting and working there, Russia is more democratic than the US. Instead of criticizing Russia, first count the women and children that were MURDERED by that psychopath. Russia's administration, including Mr. Churkin, performed flawlessly in response to a clear violation of legally binding agreements. In conclusion, since you don't know Russian reality and are not forced to confront these issues, stick to your cubicles and focus on what's happening in your life.

    18. Preston  08/20/2008 11:36 PM Report

      Well said Gina, but I think your description of Communism also describes our Congress. LOL. But that's debate for another time.

    19. Gina  08/20/2008 11:26 PM Report

      Well, fellas the word Communism to me was never anything but a term designed to take away the wealth and individual property of the people and redistribute it. Wealth that filled the coffers of its so-called caretaker administrators who ‘in my view’ a concoction…this 'share & share’ alike thing. Ultimately it was nothing more than a propagandist vision the Bolsheviks and Lenin had, that Trotsky carried out. And even Trotsky was exiled by Stalin over the fundamentals of it. In reality it turned out to be nothing more than a Dictatorship designed to steal the prosperity and individual rights of the people under a falsehood veil called communism. An 8 decade (or however long) control over the people and their lives was never communism, but fascism pretending to be nirvana communism. Communism is a word steeped in non-reality.

    20. Preston  08/20/2008 11:19 PM Report

      Exactly, DICTATORSHIP. Sprinkle a little sugar on it, and they call it Communism. Sprinkle a little more sugar on it, and they call it Socialism. It's still a dictatorship, and it's still evil.

    21. Dan  08/20/2008 10:34 PM Report

      hmmm sounds like I struck a nerve, and first of all USSR was not Communist when I grew up, during Brezhnev era the country took a shift towards socialism and remained that till Gorbi tried to make it Democratic. There is no real communist country out there, they all preach communism but in reality its dictatorship, not the same thing.

    22. Preston  08/20/2008 10:23 PM Report

      And apparently my "uneducated" red-neck friends figured all that out long before your "college grad" commy-ass did. And you obviously still haven't figured it out, because according to your comments. Communism was working pretty good for YOU. Until "Gorby" ruined it all, for YOU. "But people are greedy and selfish therefore communism will never work." DUH!... Also, I am part Native American and your comments are ignorant because you are an IGNORANT SHIT!

    23. Dan  08/20/2008 09:50 PM Report

      Actually, if you want to go that far into history, there used to be no people on this side of the world, there is a land bridge that connects Siberia and Alaska, and through this bridge the Native Americans crossed into this side of the world.

      Preston, you just said to me the following "Most of America is uneducated rednecks since that is who you talk to"

      my response to native americans was not ignorant, you never hear of one worrying about whats going on outside their tribe.

      oh and you obviously have no freaking Clue what Communism and Socialism are, nor do you red-neck friends. Communism in reality is a perfect world, free healthcare, free education, no rich class, no poor class, all middle class people working to strive together, unfortunetly people are greedy and selfish, and therefore communism will never work.

    24. Preston  08/20/2008 09:27 PM Report

      No Dan, all politics aside, you are a commy, that calls himself a socialist, because of it's social expedience in the liberal academia and business bosses world, and that's a very forgiving assessment because most of the older red-necks I grew-up and worked with, swear up and down there is absolutely no difference between socialism and communism. And encase your college grad friends forgot to tell you, most US citizens are not college grads; and I also resent the ignorant comment made about Native Americans. You need to get out more Dan.

    25. Gina  08/20/2008 06:26 PM Report

      One thing Dan I would like to correct you on. Columbus did not discover America. He never stepped foot on American soil in discovery, (South American) soil that is. The Americas were discovered by an Italian by the name of Amerigo Vespucci hence the name (America) named after him. Columbus sailed and landed in the Caribbean, some say the Bahamas, but he did not land here. Furthermore, Amerigo landed on the land what is now called Brazil, South America. It is believed that the Chinese landed even prior to that but there is no documentation and since documentation is validation, Amerigo stands as the valid discoverer of America. History has never corrected this oversight.

    26. Dan  08/20/2008 05:10 PM Report

      Jon - I read the story, and I see it as a tragic loss for those who experienced, but how come I dont see the other side being interviewed and put in the same story? that what makes this story biased.

      Preston - define your term of real americans, are you talking Native Americans that had been here before Columbus days? I doubt they could give a left nut about whats going in Georgia or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Or are you talking about the other kind of "Americans"?

      the people I do speak with are all college grads and some have been born here and some are US citizens (but in your case none of those people are real americans)

      as far as me being a commie? nope I am a socialist.

    27. Preston  08/20/2008 02:36 PM Report

      Jon, there's no way in hell that you'll be able to reason with that Dan character. He's one of those jealous commy losers, that comes to America (if you can't beat em, join em) to try and maintain their privileged lifestyle, but they find out they don't have a monopoly on power anymore and just might have to give some customer service every now and then to make a buck. Most of these Russian commy leftovers prefer not to mingle with the real Americans, they really don't know Americans. They prefer to stick close to the "International crowd".

    28. Jon  08/20/2008 01:15 PM Report

      Dan, you know at this point that it's impossible to "prove" anything. Asking for proof is an old trick from bar arguments. Can you "prove" Churkin's claims that Georgian forces killed 2000 is South Ossetia? Can you even cite legitimate independent sources to show there is any merit to Churkin's claims of ethnic cleansing and genocide by Georgia? I never said the Russians were doing the ethnic cleansing. I said their side is doing it. (Your twisting of my statements would make Karl Rove and the swift-boating crowd smile.) I don't have a direct quotation, but Churkin made some grand statement that Russia would not stand by and do nothing if they witnessed ethnic cleansing and genocide. Well, there is mounting evidence that South Odessian paramilitary groups (groups on Russia's side of the conflict) are engaged in ethnic cleansing as the Russians stand by and do nothing. You seem to need left-leaning sources to believe anything. Well, here you go. It's not "proof," but it's a start. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/georgians-tell-of-ethnic-cleansing-902908.html

    29. Dan  08/19/2008 09:00 PM Report

      Cilivilized people?

      hahahahahahahahahahaha, have you ever even been out of the country? do you know what the population of the world think of you so called Americans? you need to change your view of thinking or pretty soon you will have to learn the metric system and how to count Euros.

    30. Preston  08/19/2008 08:00 PM Report

      Yeah, Dan must of had it pretty damn good, back in the good old USSR. He sure is a loyal commy if nothing else.

    31. realist  08/19/2008 07:49 PM Report

      I wouldn't waist my time, or any of readers time responding to creatures like you. As I offered before, the best I can do for you is to buy your ticket back to Moscow; that's where you belong. The USA is for civilized people!

    32. Dan  08/19/2008 06:50 PM Report

      Wow Jon can you show us any proof that Russia is doing ethnic cleansing? or are you reffering to Abhkazia where the Abkhazian military is taking over villages that are on their territory and pushing Georgian military out. To Realist: Do you have any proof that it was not 2000 dead south osettians? or are you just speculating and trying to prove your opinion as a fact? as far as Ex KGB agent killed, do you carry a double standard for US government over russian, because US has killed not only ex members of the CIA, but also Scientists that would discover something US was trying to keep hidden. You join an organization like that, be prepared to face some consequences.

      Georgian citizens killed every day in Sout Ossetia? again show some proof before speculating like you always do. You know it is funny, because I can almost pin point where you guys get your bs infromation from, watch things like MSNBC and PBS for a change, or watch news in Chinese I guess, quit watching CNN, FOX News, BBC, or read AP, AFP, etc... pretty much anything that carries a one sided bologna campaign.

    33. No Disputin Rasputin  08/19/2008 05:15 PM Report

      Oh the childish games we weave.

    34. Realist  08/19/2008 02:58 PM Report

      Response to GC. Georgia is more or less democratic country, and all actions by Mr.Saakashvili will be investigated, unlike neonatzi Russian government, where such an investigation of state's actions may cost your life (remember countless numbers of reporters dead in Russia just for that). Where was your outrage with war crimes committed in Chechnya, or when innocent civilians were killed in Beslan, or when exKGB agent was killed in London? I do not know how much you really know about Russia, but in that country NOTHING of such a caliber happens w/o govermental approval. Whom in Russian government would your outraged soul like to punish? Or, we should have double standards, ones for little countries and their peoples, and other rules for big countries? is your gentle spirit outraged by Churkin's shameless lies about 2000 dead? why would not you want to slap him around, or Putin, or others? There is a lot of talk about killed Russian "peacekeepers" that "justified" their aggression. what about Georgian citizens killed every day in S.Ossetia? are they in your world less valuable?who would protect them? who was punished for the Russian-blessed ethnic cleansing of over 200,000 Georgians from Abkhazia? It is very cowerdly to gang up on a small country, but look the other way when big country does the same.

    35. sock puppet  08/19/2008 02:25 PM Report

      GC - We held military exercises with Georgia - the strongest kind of support (implied and overt) with NATO membership in the offing. You mean to imply that he should have been aware of our duplicity? THAT WE WERE JUST KIDDING! We were caught exposing our arrogant ass - yet again. The M-I complex will rush to rekindle the cold war for fun and profit.

      _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

      From a previous post: WSJ article tossed billions around re military purchase proposals stemmed from Russia / Georgia conflict - repeatedly. Now this is an all points bulletin for lovers of irony (alas at any cost). What if the Reagan tactic backfires into a what-goes-around-comes-around. This time we - not the Russians - bellyup trying to keep up (militarily at the expense of prudent economics). If we're not already there we're damn close - and the world / Russia knows it. This bit of world insecurity brought to you by Cheney, Shrub, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld et al neocons inc. What a rogues gallery lineup of putrefying SCUMBAGS. A damning indictment on our system that they're still free. AND YES, MCCAIN IS MORE OF THE SAME DESPITE HIS TURNCOAT WHIMPERS OF OTHERWISE!! PARTICULARLY HIS JINGOISM!!!! RE IRAQ AND GEORGIA!! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ And yes Jingo-John is emulating W in exacerbating our impotence with inciting swagger and bravado that we can't backup (and survive). Petulant feet-stamping children for another eight years will be painful, but alas inevitable. The national IQ deserves it.

    36. Jon  08/19/2008 01:13 PM Report

      For all you Churkin apologists, now that a week has passed, why don't you give us a point-by-point rundown of his interview to explain how what he said were not lies. (Apparently it's okay to stand by and allow ethnic cleansing if your side is doing it.)

      And for all you defenders of Ronald Reagan, how's that supply-side and trickle-down economics working? (I mean for the U.S. middle class and the federal deficit, not China and Walmart senior executives.)

      And, of course, the neocons are already writing their books so they are prepared to publish when the Iron Curtain goes back up. You know, the books that blame it all on Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (even if McCain wins).

      (Note to Webmaster: You may want to add 'Barack' and 'Obama' to your spell check dictionary.)

    37. Preston  08/19/2008 08:12 AM Report

      I tried reading Machiavelli once, and didn't understand a damn word of it; good thing the community college philosophy professor told me what he meant. But I did understand, you. And I concur.

    38. GC  08/19/2008 03:08 AM Report

      Someone needs to bitch-slap this dangerous Georgian fool. It looks like he drank too much of that neocon pre-emptive war and full spectrum dominance kool-aid. Instead of gambling territory and lives, he should have heeded warnings of friend and foe alike not to do it; rather, he should have spent the weekend reading Machiavelli or Sun Tzu or some similar basic book on strategy, whose oft vile but instructive tenets have been tested and proven over the anvil of hundreds of years of human experience. His conduct calls into question his continued capacity to practise law, let alone the smarts and temperament to be entrusted with the lives, safety and security of his countrymen, women and children. He has sold the Georgian people short and gambled vicariously with the hard-won freedom and bright future of his people. He even has the temerity to blame the West for the results of his folly. He chose not to listen, figuring he was smarter than everyone else. He has flunked applied strategy. He has also obviously only a superficial understanding of the American (or Russian) thinking, values, and self-interest. Leaders should not be guided by hot emotion when so much and other people’s lives are at stake. We need to entrust power to cool customers who are capable of properly weighing risks, costs and benefits as they navigate our nations through troubled times. The whole world gained a lot from the end of the cold war; there are better ways of spending our tax money than wasting it on ill-conceived warfare or a renewed hyper arms race. I hope that we are not so stupid as to travel down that road once again. We should provide humanitarian and mediation support to the Georgian, Ossetian, Abkhazian and Russian people, but we should not let this self-destructive Caucasian monkey drag everyone down with him with his dangerous antics. A lot of seemingly well-meaning but dangerous fools and war-mongers in history have been democratically elected. The West, Russia and the rest of the world should proceed with care and resist having its future course dictated to by such hot-headed fools.

    39. Preston  08/17/2008 05:41 PM Report

      Oh, I didn't know that. If that's true, and I have no reason to doubt you, TABS, then he is in fact, a war hero. And even if no war hero, he still has a right to his opinion. I was referring specifically to when George McGovern said Ronald Reagan would go down in history as the worst President ever, and yes, he did say that (well after his tenure was over). Which I disagree with; along with his political ideas in general. Now knowing he is a war hero, I regret making that play on words with his last name.

    40. TABS  08/17/2008 03:54 PM Report

      Correction: It was 35 Missions, and McGovern won the DFC.

    41. to Timothy Post  08/17/2008 03:53 PM Report

      Most Americans have more opinions than they do actual knowledge. But it was nice to read something by somebody with a clue for a change. Or at least who sounds like he has one.

    42. TABS  08/17/2008 03:51 PM Report

      George McGovern flew 24 Missions over Nazi Germany in a B-24 during WW2. With a 65% casualty rate that would qualify him as a war hero. So whatever G McGovern wants to say about America he has earned it.

    43. Preston  08/17/2008 11:19 AM Report

      Gina, you hit the nail on the head, right around the bullseye area of your comment. Games are being played by all 3 parties obviously involved. I find it hard to believe that Ms. Rice "wanted" President Jackass of Georgia to piss-off Russia that bad... So Stalin came from Georgia, what a surprise, my opinion of... Some of my ancestors came from that Russian/Georgian region and I'm starting to understand where most of my belligerent nature comes from.

    44. Gina  08/17/2008 10:49 AM Report

      Very interesting discussion here on this board. I find all points of view interesting. I just feel that militarily, we are stretched out. We are spreading thin to transparent. We are a country of superpower, this is true but we are NOT super humans and we just do not seem to get that. We seem to be obsessively driven down roads and dark paths that we do not need to be on. I know one thing; we had better start thinking more with our minds and collective intelligence than with superpower because that is the best way to lose it! It makes sense to me that these conflicts we are having around the world in recent years, i.e.,Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, not to mention the former war-torn countries we now hold occupation in just to keep the peace and now we have the brewing Georgia & Russian conflict, some of these I would not be surprised if the underlying reason for these is that one or more of these situations are stationed to divert our power and spread us thin towards other conflicts in the world. Wild thought is it not? Condoleeza Rice this morning said in her interview on FOX Sunday that Russia will see consequences from this conflict . We have spread ourselves too layer and we are in danger of being ineffective if we do not shore-up and close something of these loose ends. A message we DO NOT want to send to our enemies who are WATCHING, something else we seem to overlook and forget. Our approach in many of these situations have been off-center. There are 6,684 Billion people on this planet and we are not singularly responsible for every last saving soul here. We are all in this together. A lot of international messes have been made in my view in recent years and we haven't begun to finish cleaning up the old messes before we're on to new ones as have been historically demonstrated. It's time to 'get smart'!

    45. Preston  08/17/2008 09:03 AM Report

      Yes, sock puppet, isn't it both funny and sad how we flawed humans only choose to see as much of reality that we care to make sense of, and disregard the rest to accommodate our flawed preconceived notions of what is and what should never be, in order to fit that category of confusion beyond recognition, in that affirms, ignorance is bliss, in which we moralize, if you don't piss on my bliss, I won't piss on yers. And then so goes the cycle begins again, the corkscrew being twisted into humanities head and the inevitable wars. Having said that, you can hold on to whatever beliefs of Ronald Reagan that you want, who knows, someday it might be proven that George McGovern was a genius, and should have been allowed to brand his name... on the ass of America. As far as this Russian-Georgian kick in the face. You just might be right. You also, just might be wrong. Unless you're God, or been living with your nose up russia/georgia's ass, and even if you did, you still have no humanly way of "really knowing" what's going on. So, I for one, am going to wait for the smoke to settle, and the bullshit to resonate, however long that takes, and decide for myself. And then of course, as you point out, we might not know the whole truth for... what was it, let's see Reaganomics, 25,35,45,100? years!?!? That should be enough time for the rewriters of history to rewrite history.

    46. sock puppet  08/16/2008 11:58 PM Report

      Preston - we setup Georgia to enter into a proxy war with Russia by engaging in joint military exercises, an overwhelmingly strong and overt implication of military support. We have continued to tweak the Russians elsewhere. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

      Rice followed with a personal visit and more exuberant talk - all the while claiming otherwise - re military support.

      _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

      Reagonomics (somewhat irrelevant as far as Georgia) only works when all is well. Bushonomics has assured otherwise. Further, it's not a stretch that the effects of Reagonomics are not all in yet. Laissez faire irrational exuberance could well be a part of the neocon hangover. If you're rolling in the clover, we're not on the same page, nor will your 'comprendo' capabilities be helped much.

    47. Roy Fassel  08/16/2008 08:08 PM Report

      There is an old saying that you can’t polish a turd. You also can’t turn feral cats into domestic pussy cats. Russia is Russia. Europe in all of its delusional wisdom will have to live with Russia controlling the heat for the winter and the air-conditioning in the summer with their on-off button on natural gas. Europe has left itself so vulnerable that Russia now will control that part of the world because Europe is so soft. American friends in Europe are mostly those countries who lived behind the Iron Curtain. Old Europe lead by enlightened thinkers like Schroeder of Germany who bashed America and Bush is now employed in Russia, by Russian. We live in an age of brainwashed Western gibberish. The Western civilization is in danger. The West does not have the stomach to fight for their culture or their freedom. Most of the West has no remote understanding of what the rest of the world is like. Europe, America and Bush made one grave error. “Recognizing” Kosovo will have serious repercussions.

    48. Preston  08/16/2008 06:11 PM Report

      sock puppet, the top half of your comment here has me scratching my head (me no comprendo). But the bottom half, I gotta say, sounds almost identical to Ronald Reagan's critics in 1980. Now I'm not saying McCain is Reagan, but according to your fault-finding "warning", he could be... And only the most extremely deranged of liberals thought the world was worst off after 8 years of Ronny boy.

    49. sock puppet  08/16/2008 01:37 PM Report

      Now Jingo-John enters with his belligerent stance towards Russia with his advisor and neocon ex-Georgian lobbyist Randy Sheunemannian who preps him on a phone call to the President of Georgia, followed by a strong statement of support by the jingoistic McCain (who’s never seen a war or potential war he hasn’t supported). _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ If we send McCain to the white house (and I think we will), we will deserve all its consequences, which I think will be many and devastating. Our oceans of defense will no longer insulate us. Our military arrogance will betray in the end. WOW, forgive me I’m emulating the administration in fear mongering. Nonetheless, it was heart felt. I think he’s a loose cannon, all the more dangerous cause he’s too obtuse to recognize it.

    50. oleg  08/16/2008 01:34 PM Report

      hey guys !!!!!! check this out ( http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=RussiaToday) ...