BTW – I helped train the Georgians in 2003. SOme of their units are awfully tough. They just don’t have enough to last in a long fight against an enemy so enlightened as to carpet bomb cities (Grozny anyone?).

major john on May 6, 2008 at 3:37 PM

Do you think they can survive a full on Russian invasion? I doubt the Russians would attempt this but they might. Putin hasn’t shown a lot of restraint in his past dealings with former Soviet Republics. An ancillary question: Are we doing enough to help the Georgians?

BTW – I helped train the Georgians in 2003. SOme of their units are awfully tough. They just don’t have enough to last in a long fight against an enemy so enlightened as to carpet bomb cities (Grozny anyone?).

Darth Executor on May 6, 2008 at 11:52 AM

Darth

I oppose illegal Mexicans being here. I think that a conquest of the US by Mexicans is as illegitimate as conquest of a Serbian province by Albanians. But there, the US has supported Kosovo first being flooded with Albanian Muslims, and then becoming independent.

My point here – if that is okay, what’s wrong with the Russians trying whatever they are in Abkhazia, or Mexicans playing out your scenario? Either it’s okay for everybody, or it’s okay for nobody. I generally go with the latter, and have been opposed to Kosovo from day 1. But none of the candidates oppose Kosovo, and McCain was actually an advocate for Kosovo independence.

P.S. Putin is purposely stoking nationalist sentiment. I have no doubt he will try and put Georgia under his heal at some point. I don’t know enough of the Georgian military to give an opinion but a war in that region is not in our interest so we should either give up on Georgia or we should support them with enough air power to make Russia think twice. A few missile batteries would have made that Mig think twice about downing that drone.

We should stay out of this. Not only do we have no assets there,
Don Carne on May 6, 2008 at 9:58 AM

We, the Frech, the British, etc. had no assets in Austria when Hitler took it. Look how well that turned out. If there is a Great Satan on this Earth, it’s Russia. Kicking it in the balls continuously is in everybody’s benefit.

dhimwit on May 6, 2008 at 11:52 AM

Russia is not the least evil, it’s by far the worst. Your agreement is akin to selling your soul to the devil. I agree that it’s the weakest though, and I hope beyond all hope it stays that way. I shudder to think what it would do if it regained its power.

infidelpride on May 6, 2008 at 11:03 AM

I take it you won’t mind when illegal Mexicans occupy half the US and then declare independence because they’re the majority population in those areas then? Russians have so many russians in former USSR countries because they moved them there to outbreed the local population. I find this tactic worthy of a declaration of war. Sadly, nobody else does because there’s no actual violence involved.

My heart is with the brave little nations like George and Ukraine, but my head says: Side with Russia. It’s the least of the three evils and the weakest, which makes it the most susceptible to US influence. It’d be a pretty sordid partnership, our help and clout to restore Russian hegemony in exchange for peace and quiet in the Caspian region and plenty of energy deliveries, but sometimes even the noblest of nations has to get its hands dirty.

And if Russia were to sweeten the deal by actively supporting the destruction of Iran, which is in its interests too, I’d go “Georgia? Georgia who?”

Half of southern Russia used to be non-Russian. Lots of geopolitical entities for the international community (or even one country, that’s troublesome enough) to recognize should Russia get too clever by half on this.

Ernest on May 6, 2008 at 11:10 AM

Sadly funny…

Thank you Lord for giving us choices.

While I support Georgia’s territorial integrity, I don’t see how a Russian action here is any different from the US and UN recognizing an independent Kosovo, and having NATO troops there to ensure that a new and independent Islamic country emerges in Europe.

But the Russian groung forces suck…their small-unit ability is shite (Grozny). The only way they can win is massive artillery and air strikes (Grozny).

But we must back the Georgians up, to the hilt.

Interdependency only works if both (or all) parties behave reasonably. But irrational actors tend to foulup those plans.

In the long run things work out; but as Keynes said in the long run we’re all dead.

I came to realize the truth to both your point and Keynes’s during my first marriage. My ex-wife was painfully irrational and I often wished I was dead.

I missed it the first time (because I was too busy going “Cool.”), but the Georgians present radar data saying the MiG took off from a base in Abkhazia itself and returned all the way to Russian territory. Interesting…