Posted on 08/13/2008 11:48:32 AM PDT by Daniel T. Zanoza
RFFM.org Special Report
The former Soviet Union apparently is up to its old tricks. Or perhaps Russia's attack on Georgia, part of its former territory, is out of a playbook which was never abandoned.
As of Wednesday, August 13, 2008, Russian troops were continuing their advance on cities and military bases in the sovereign country of Georgia. In a statement issued by President George W. Bush, it was revealed U.S. intelligence has indicated the Russian military was still in the process of attacks on vital points of transportation, parts of civilian infrastructure and even ships at sea sailing under the Georgian flag. In his strong statement, Bush promised economic, humanitarian and military aid would continue to be sent to Georgia from the United States. Bush also noted the heavy presence of Russian naval forces in the Black Sea where crucial Georgian ports, like Poti, are located. Bush said he expected American aid to have free access to these ports of entry.
An important point in Bush's comments on the Georgian situation includes the fact ...
(Excerpt) Read more at rffm.typepad.com ...
Oh, I dunno, how about... REALITY?
I agree with the general thrust of criticisms made against President Bush regarding this comment from early in his Presidential first term.
Nonetheless, it is useful to provide some context for the statement. The statement was made after 911 with a visit to the Crawford ranch. Bush was using one of his strong diplomatic suits of ingratiation to basically back out of major agreements made under the Clinton administration. Most importantly, Bush backed out of missile defense treaties that guaranteed Russia that we would not develop such systems.
Bush’s gregarious ingratiation style was a way of compelling the media to accept his hardline against Putin as legitimate. This was functionally useful to allowing the US to break liberal bilateral agreements with Russia while appearing legitimate.
I do not think Bush fails to appreciate the aggression and absurdity of Russian policies since that time.
McCain’s statement about Putin is more accurate— we should see the KGB in Putin.
Sounds like he failed to see that Putin wasn’t a total chump. Also sounds like somebody finally rubbed Russia’s nose in it one or two too many times and got some sort of a reaction. Shame the tanks didn’t roll into Kosovo instead...
Maybe Putin didn’t look into Bush’s eyes.
I have NEVER trusted Putin! He sways when he walks like he is King of the World. Once KGB AWAYS KGB. It was not a good thing for Bush to say. Sometimes we have to keep our feelings,emotions under wrap,especially when dealing with someone like Putin. What he is doing now is no surprise to a lot of people.
Nice recap. I think it’s also likely that about that time ras-Putin was thinking, I ahm goink to get you for this one day, Gay-org.
Ummm... it had to be pretty obvious to analysts that the bear was going to make a move against one of the oppositional baltic states at some point in time. I don’t know if anyone can ever predict the flash point. Apparently, they used the standoff situation around SO to filter in a large invasion force without attracting too much attention.
I really think the net effect of Bush’s comments was for the US to take advantage of Russia— not the other way around.
Consequently, I think people misinterpret this. The fact that Bush gives out warm fuzzies for a person in public does not mean that he is working in the political scene to help that person. In fact, that is often the best indicator that he is not going to help that figure. He has done this to Pelosi and others.
I still agree that in this case, he should not have said it, but functionally the US never lost its hegemonic position over Russia.
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