Posted on 07/03/2015 10:45:21 AM PDT by McGruff
In this fiercely pro-Western nation that fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, few thought the Kremlin could ever regain a toehold. But with the West backing away from Georgia’s path to E.U. and NATO membership after a year of conflict in Ukraine, pro-Russian sentiments are on the rise.
The former Soviet nation’s leaders are warning that Russia may yet prevail if Georgia is shut out from Western clubs. Wary of further provoking Russia, Western politicians have quashed talk of NATO and the European Union expanding eastward any time soon. Russia has stepped into the vacuum, increasing its presence by opening Georgian-language outlets of its state-owned news network and deepening investments in the energy industry and other key sectors.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
You know, I can see why you say that, and in some ways you’re right.
On the other hand, take a look at the blame people focus on the West for what is taking place in the Ukraine. Right how we have people on this forum that are convinced Russia is right because the West pushed the Ukraine too hard.
If we go into Georgia, those same people will be very happy to see Russia invade, and will champion it here.
So in this instance, I have to say Obama couldn’t win either way.
I agree with you that Georgia should courted, but then I agreed that the Ukraine should have been courted too.
Just in case you think of it folks, I’m not buying that the government of the Ukraine was wrong for ousting a man that decided to favor Russia over the West when what seems like the majority of the government didn’t want that at all.
Who could blame them? Any kind of alliance with the West means inevitable f**** marriage
Yup.......and it’s not the 1st time the US has abandoned Georgia.
It’s the home of my grandparents...so I know something about it..
So what's the problem?
Admit them to NATO while they are still in dispute over South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Russia? Don’t we have enough on our hands now with Ukraine? They are of minimal strategic interest unlike Ukraine. Georgia’s economy is in the doldrums, why would the EU want to take them on and have a flood of Georgians head west in search of jobs? Sorry they present more of a potential problem than any potential advantage of western integration at this point.
We would never actually “go into Georgia”, but to have the support of the US with weapons and IMF intensive aid to rebuild the damaged economy would be in our long-term best interests in terms of containment of Putin’s Russia..
If we don’t intervene in various strategic ways, (and yes that likely means a Cold War footing) the Russians will take anything they set their minds on and they are essentially doing that now..using the age old excuse that Russian citizens are at risk...
Same story that every tyrant has used for millennia..
I don’t disagree with your comments.
It’s why I back the Ukraine decision.
We either champion people who want freedom from oppression, or we aid the oppressors.
It will be a cold day in hell before I back Russia invading any peaceful nation on it’s border.
Do nations on the border of Russia have the right to choose to ally with the West?
Does Russia have the right to ally with the West?
Russian idiots decided to ally with China instead. Nobody says word one about that.
Nope, the Ukraine is the real problem. Bull stuff!
Oh, I thought this was about folks in Atlanta.
Yeah....many people today are swayed by self serving arguments made by various professorial types with Russian backgrounds who have a love for the people and do not see Putin and the rise of Russian nationalism as a threat to the US.
I do not, nor will I even subscribe to that. Russia will never be our friends. Our one time ally status was only a matter of a shared goal to destroy Hitler via a two front war and was a very strained relationship for a very short time.
Patton knew this better than anyone but his thinking was rejected by Eisenhower.
Today, what few relationships we have with Russia are crumbling and were never going to last anyway. At some point they will attempt to retake Germany, but they have to go through Poland again and that is why they are expanding.
In my humble opinion this is a log term game...and it’s pretty clear if you understand the history.
log=long
I think you view is a valid view. It’s one I think is reasoned and can be backed up with supportive evidence.
I see it somewhat differently, but I do agree that it is somewhat wishful thinking. I would go back to Reagan’s comment of trust but verify.
We missed an amazing opportunity to reach out to the Russian people and take them on as friends after the Cold War. We also passed up an incredible chance to show them we were one with them after Belsin. Our President should have gone there to express our unity and sympathy with the Russian people. We didn’t bother.
You don’t simply get friends to flock to you. You have to cultivate them. You have to do something that they like or appreciate. We ushered in the fall of their old system, and then more or less walked away.
We should have remained engaged far more than we did. We could have formed relationships that would never die. We didn’t.
So yes, I agree with your comments to a point. I understand why you say them and realize you are not alone with your thoughts. I sympathize with them too, but I do not think this view is the only view that can be reality in the long term.
Putin is an oppressor like all the oppressors before him. In time he will die. It’s up to us what our relations with the Russians people are. That’s the key to the future.
A moron at the top does not have to mean that Russia is our enemy in perpetuity.
If the U. S. is such a bad place, why do Russians love to immigrate here?
There’s more to Russia than meets the eye.
The West needs Russia IMO. Is the world a better place with it as our ally, or as China’s ally?
Why have their been so few summits between our leaders after the fall of the U. S. S. R.?
That’s just a sign of little more than complete ignorance on our part.
We ignored Russia and watched as it wallowed in it’s diminished state. That was a massive mistake.
We were not exactly ignoring them during the post Communist bad times...
We were giving them millions of dollars to dismantle the nuclear facilities in the various former USSR countries..but the problems were vast and our abilities were limited.
It was during this period that we joined together on the International space station and were cultivating some military to military relationships.
All this broke down after Putin made himself president for life by playing games with the election rules..and he then began destroying his political competition.
After that, everything we did began to degrade and fall apart, and then there is the constant opposition at the UN, the attempts to control the P5 +1 offer of inclusion in the global governance conferences....and Iran of course...then the Georgia invasion, the Ukraine, the harassment incursions into the airspace and coastal perimeters of various western countries including ours. We even tried to get them into NATO..
I just don’t see any future relationship occurring in the foreseeable future. And yes, he will move on at some point, but the bet is a good one that the next guy will be even worse.
I do find grounds for agreement there. I come closer to agreeing with this version than your last, but I’m not trying to dismiss your last, because much of it is very important in the trust but verify concept.
Putin is unquestionably exactly what you describe him as. He an evil man intent on power, and I don’t think that intent is limited to his borders or his region.
This guy is whacked out.
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