Excellent “rant” I might add…

Oh, and oil was USD$11/bbl.

Fast forward ten years, where the last five of those years have seen oil go from $30/bbl to peak at $145/bbl. Oddly enough, in that five year period, Russian nationalism and a resurgent Russian military has been on a meteoric rise.

SanFranNan would have you believe that she is “saving the planet” by preventing additional oil supplies from being drilled in the US. I believe she is hoping we lose sight of the fact that oil is almost as fungible as currency (Hugo Chavez’s crappy heavy sulfur crude notwithstanding).

So it’s the same solution for pushing back on Russian resurgence as it is for the Islamists: DRILL.

Any Republican who fights drilling (part of the Gang of Ten?) should have it pointed out to them, loudly and often, that their failure to support more drilling of oil to protect their Big Ag constituents amounts to the selling out of US interests and national security to the likes of ConAgra and ADM.

/rant OFF

To quote Battlestar Galactica again:

All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.

aero on August 14, 2008 at 2:12 PM

So say we all.

As far as all the other issues, here’s a great signature line I ran across earlier today:

Vote McCain. If he screws up the country, at least it won’t be on purpose!

All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.

Kat_Mo on August 14, 2008 at 1:46 PM

Another Putin weakness we can and should exploit.

I mean, Russia, Caucasus and the Eurasian nations have been playing this game a long time. and, Russia’s world ambitions have existed since Ivan IV extended Muscovy to the Baltic. Russia is trapped by its geography and it always plays to that.

a capella on August 14, 2008 at 10:22 AM

if they dont play ball on iran, we dont look the other way on georgia, we send nato peacekeepers into Gori and Tblisi, and start talking joint eurasian military operations with China instead of Russia. i mean, theres plenty of ways to play this hand. I think at the end of the day though, wether it be the WTO, the G8, further eurasian security partnerships, etc. etc…we CAN exert some pressure.

Guy can’t move an inch without his 300+ foreign policy advisors typing it up for him first.

We are all Georgians now by Senator John McCain reminds us of why conflicts in small, obscure places can have a big impact on the US and the rest of the world. Mr. McCain, through his considerable international experience and…

With the Russians now apparently on their way out…

I’m not 100% sure about that. There is this quote, found in numerous sources today:

Russia’s foreign minister declared Thursday that the world “can forget about” Georgia’s territorial integrity…

(this comes from the Toronto Star ).

Interesting times we live in.

What would be the world’s response if the USA invaded PuertoRice or Samoa, let alone Mexico or Canada on the pretense that we have prior claim to any/all of the territory? Heck, what would the internal response be?

interestingly there is a video today at NRO TV about the founders and Empire. I didn’t realize this but Jefferson wanted to march in and Take Canada and Cuba, of course he did aquire Lousianna. Of course the distinction here which few can grasp is it would be an Empire for Liberty as oppossed to the type of Empire Russia or the Islamo-Fascist are shooting for.

Ya may want to change these two examples..Puerto Rico is part of the United States, as is American Samoa…

Secondly, flying in with guns blazing…well, does what?

The solution is not nor should not be modeled on the basic Cold War script. A lot of people died prematurely because of that script. But, it worked, then. It worked well, then. But, that was then. This is now.

Going after Russia today is not and will not be like going after Communism. While there are some operational similarities at certain levels within Russia, to conflate the two, Communism and Revanchist Russia is a danger from the start. Doing so will lessen, not enhance, our response(s) and the effectiveness of those responses over the coming decade or more.

Toss out the Communism from the playbook entirely. It doesn’t exist in Russia anymore, save for a few on the fringe, and for some holding nostaligia for the good old days. The New Russia is driven by something far more dangerous than Communism, yet driven by something that is far more easily dealt with than Communism.

The Fukuyama Fallacy!

coldwarrior on August 14, 2008 at 10:48 AM

Exactly. Russia invaded a soveriegn nation.

What would be the world’s response if the USA invaded PuertoRice or Samoa, let alone Mexico or Canada on the pretense that we have prior claim to any/all of the territory? Heck, what would the internal response be?

Russia should be shown that it’s Cold War aggresiveness will no longer be tolerated. The Bear’s armies are no match for ours. They are antiquated and in disrepair. B1 bombers and lazer guided missles from us on their troops positions in Georgia would convince them that we mean business.

It is time we take a pro-active stance against Russia instead of simply reacting. Then tell Iran that we will do the same to them if they don’t quit saber rattling and don’t STOP their nuclear weapons programme.

If you’ve been waiting for a single, overwhelming reason to vote for a particular candidate… there it is.

No contest.

Gilda on August 14, 2008 at 10:34 AM

excellent post, cutting throught the Reletvistic thought process to the truth of the matter.

Surely you have done more study of the Georgian situation than what you expose here. If this is your take on Georgia, congrtatulations, you have been taken in by a Russian media counteroffensive that started way before the first Russian assault troops crossed the Georgian frontier.

It’s OK. You are not alone. Even some major media outlets took the Russian line…and have been repeating it often since this episode began.

For your consideration:

1) Can a President of a nation make decisions regarding events within the recognized borders of that nation?

2) Can a government of a recognized nation act to control crime, control the illegal influx of falsely documented foreign nationals into that country within that country?

3) Can a President or government dispatch its own military and security forces within its own borders to qwell lethal threats to the stability of that nation?

These are not trick questions.

Lastly,

4) How long, from a standing start, with no prior notice, does it take a brigade of troops at rest, to enter a combat zone with complete kit and gear, full ammunition/basic load, move through severe terrain over gravel roads to get to the FEBA and then advance toward the target?

This is nor a trick question, either.

Answer them correctly (and there is no relativism involved nor allowed) a simple yes or no for the first three, and a logisticians time-table for the last, and you will be able to see that the Russian invasion of Georgian was in no way at any time a mere “response” to a Georgian alleged provocation. It was and is and will remain, however, a central theme in how New Russia intends to conduct business for the next many decades.

Neither man is perfect but both will do what is best for the United States of America.

trs on August 14, 2008 at 9:41 AM

This, really, is what the presidential decision comes down to for me. The choice is between a man (McCain) who, although I disagree with him on some issues, has a proven track record of doing and saying what he believes is best for our country, and a man (Obama) who has a record of doing and saying what’s best for himself, while asking me to believe in him.

No contest.

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/08/10/the-crisis-in-georgis-911-and-the-lessons-of-gratitude/