Russia’s goal is not simply, as it claims, restoring the status quo in South Ossetia. It wants regime change in Georgia. It has opened a second front in the other disputed Georgian territory, Abkhazia, just south of Sochi. But its greatest goal is to replace Saakashvili — a man Vladimir Putin despises — with a president who would be more subject to Moscow’s influence. As Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt pointed out Saturday, Moscow’s rationale for invading has parallels to the darkest chapters of Europe’s history. Having issued passports to tens of thousands of Abkhazians and South Ossetians, Moscow now claims it must intervene to protect them — a tactic reminiscent of one used by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II.
Moscow seeks to roll back democratic breakthroughs on its borders, to destroy any chance of further NATO or E.U. enlargement and to reestablish a sphere of hegemony over its neighbors. By trying to destroy a democratic, pro-Western Georgia, Moscow is sending a message that, in its part of the world, being close to Washington and the West does not pay.
Credit where due: Booman Tribune
The Georgian Army was in complete disarray last night after troops and tanks fled the town of Gori in panic and abandoned it to the Russians without firing a shot.
As Russian armoured columns rolled deep into central and western Georgia, seizing several towns and a military base, President Saakashvili said that his country had been cut in half.
For the first time since the crisis erupted last Thursday, Russia admitted that its troops had moved out of Abkhazia, the other breakaway region under Moscow’s protection, and seized the town of Senaki in Georgia proper. Russian officials again insisted that they had no intention of occupying territory beyond South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia said that the Russian Army was also in command of the towns of Zugdidi and Kurga in the west, and its tanks appeared to be moving from the north and the west towards Tbilisi, the capital.
President George Bush finally let Russia have it with both barrels this afternoon, at least in diplomatic terms. In a terse and angry statement after his return from the Beijing Olympics, Bush accused Moscow of reneging on its commitment to proportionate response and said that “intelligence†indicated that Vladimir Putin might depose the freely-elected government in Tbilisi. He also warned Russia that it risks relationships with the US and Europe and its standing in the world:
In a Rose Garden statement Monday, Bush said there appeared to be an attempt by Russia to unseat Georgia’s pro-Western president, Mikhail Saakashvili.
He demanded an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops from the conflict zone and a return to the status quo as of Aug. 6.Bush appears to have become angered at Russian double-dealing.
About effing time.
Comment by happyfeet on 8/12 @ 3:02 am #
I hate Russia even more than I despise Matthew McConaughey I think. All the Russians I like live here anyway.
Comment by happyfeet on 8/12 @ 3:17 am #
What else I think is that this might could mean China invades Taiwan the day after those gay-assed Olympics are over.
Comment by malaclypse the tertiary on 8/12 @ 6:32 am #
Michael Savage was quite the Russian apologist on his show this evening (last evening). He’s an insufferable prick, that one. Always one for a clever turn of phrase, at one point before a commercial break he bellowed, “Tbilisi is a lot closer to Moscow than Baghdad is to Washington!” I mean, how can one argue with such penetrating analysis.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/12 @ 12:48 pm #
“Bush appears to have become angered at Russian double-dealing.”
- Was he alive in 1914….I thought that was McCane territory.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/12 @ 12:54 pm #
- BTW, all these Western writers are full of shit. Georgia is just one of the gears in the re-Soviet machinery.
- The crown jewel, and the one that Russia sets her friggin political clock by is the Ukraine. Anything that leads up to effecting the Uke is really what motivates them.
- Bush should tell them point blank to pull back from Georgia or we’ll immediately sponsor the Ukraine for NATO. That is the only hammer we have to use on the sickle, but its a big one.
Comment by Sdferr on 8/12 @ 2:46 pm #
I think I’ll say about effing time when I see Russian tanks destroyed by American missles fired by American pilots of American attack helicopters. Until then it’s status quo ante.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 8/12 @ 3:57 pm #
I’m utterly amazed at the number of people in the US supporting Russia’s bid to rebuild its empire. Particularly on the right — I know the left loves them some dictators. It’s saddening and maddening.
Comment by Sdferr on 8/12 @ 4:27 pm #
Find a bullet with Putin’s name on’t and a Russian to deliver it.
Comment by ThomasD on 8/12 @ 4:55 pm #
#7
It’s alot about the desire for certainty - better the enemy you know than the chaos of having to deal with a bunch of independent actors; balance of power and the grand game being things that people (think they) know and understand.
There’s also the aspect of making us look so much better, if simply by default; and the wishful thinking that these events might somehow cause the Europeons to have a moment of clarity.
tw: outcry States.
No point trying to improve on that.