Posted on 08/17/2008 10:54:41 AM PDT by grey_whiskers
The invasion of Georgia by Russia, at the behest of Vladimir Putin, has raised a firestorm of commentary and actions. Charles Krauthammer has suggested kicking Russia out of G8; Barack Obama went surfing in Hawaii; Poland has signed an agreement with the United States on missile defense. Along with all of the commentary, there has been a plethora of voices suggesting what Russia gains from the affair. First, it sends a message that siding with the United States is not a guaranteed win; it is a shot across the bow of other places, such as the Ukraine; it is a distraction in favor of Russia's client state, Iran; it is a power play aimed at fracturing NATO.
All of these items are true -- in fact, concentrating on even *one* of them would take a number of columns, and still not do justice to the situation. George Bush has looked in Putin's eyes and seen his soul; Putin has looked in Bush's eyes and seen a lame duck. Hence the bold move which advances Moscow's aims, and hurts the United States, on so many levels at the same time.
But there is one chorus of voices who have been strangely silent.
Who do I mean? The usual gang of fellow travelers: Code Pink, Rep. Murtha, John Kerry, and the anti-war left.
When the United States invaded Iraq, it was easy to trace the path of the memos from the fax machines to the talking heads. "Give the U.N. Sanctions A Chance" -- "Bush's War to Finish What His Father Didn't" -- "A Distraction from the War on Terror" -- "Valerie Plame / Yellowcake / Bush Lied" -- "A Quagmire" -- "Hadditha is another Mai Lai" -- "We're There To Loot Iraq".
All of these have been tried, and failed. The attempt by the press to create another Tet Offensive petered out, with the replacement of Donald Rumsfeld and the success of the surge. Even über-moonbat and libtard Al Franken has been running radio ads in Minnesota complaining of how many schools we are building...in Iraq. Oh, the humanity. Someone tell him that this is not how the Waffen SS acted; nor yet the Russians in Georgia.
So my point is, let us hold the Russians to the same standards as the United States. Did Russia go to the US with sanctions, first? Did they consult the international community? Are they digging in for a long stay? Are they building schools and improving the infrastucture (instead of dynamiting bridges)? Where's the friggin' yellowcake?
Did Mikhail Saakashvili and his sons have rape rooms?
And, oh, yes...what of the pipelines to Europe?
OK, you Euroweenies. If you won't fight for your oil...
you won't have any.
Good luck sipping your lattés in the dark.
Try putting *this* bumper sticker on your Volvos:
NO BLOOD FOR OIL.
Right next to:
PUTIN LIED, PEOPLE DIED
Cheers!
Wonderful Whiskers!!! I want one of those bumper stickers.
I like the title. I submit that you have potential. Keep slogging.
We have not yet used our greatest weapon...Wall St. It is time to let the Rooskies know who holds all the cards in this poker game. It is time to get every American bank, mutual fund, insurance company, foundation and every other institution to start selling every Russian stock that we own. Choke the Rooskies in billions of overnight losses and convince the Europeans to do the same. Let the Rooskies know that if you want to be a bully, there is not a single place on earth outside of Russia to park your rubles!
(I have an old Nissan, great for maintenance and gas mileage; and I don't mind if it gets scratched up transporting the bikes. And yes, I bike to work a couple of times a week. I've done 26 mile round trips in Phoenix in 110 in July, and six measly miles in -4 in Minneapolis.)
Cheers!
When I’m tooling down the street, I cringe when I see a car with lots of bumper stickers because I’m always convinced it’s a moonbat, but then when I get close enough to read them and they turn out to be conservative, it makes my day!
You know, I am not so sure anymore. I agree with what you say about the moonbats. I just no longer think that the containment policies designed after WWII are useful today.I honestly do not care what happens in the old continents of Europe and Asia. Let them have their intertribal wars. I dont want to be involved
Instead I think it is time we really took self defense seriously on a national level and started looking at guerilla warfare as SOP. I cannot believe I have taken such a turn but I am done with supporting these policies. I am no less socially conservative than I was. I just want to focus at home. Not as an isolationist, but as a disinterested trading partner.
My point is, if Europe wants to be pacifist, then let them bear the consequences of it, instead of us saving their bacon halal meals, they *are* being overrun with Muslims, one more time.
Cheers!
My point is, if Europe wants to be pacifist, then let them bear the consequences of it, instead of us saving their bacon halal meals, they *are* being overrun with Muslims, one more time.
We are closer than I expectd. I am not sure that there would be a good reason tho be overthere anymore. I dont want to be involved with other people’s wars.
It’s too bad some intrepid network news person hasn’t gotten Medea Benjamin of Code Pink to comment on the Russian invasion of Georgia. Of course, she’d probably express her concern for the peach trees...
Also well done! I think our liberal elites are hopeless, but I suspect Europe may grow a backbone. Sarkozy seems to have a pair (to mix metaphors). Germany is not a nation to sit back and let anyone, especially the Russians, roll over them and their interests. Meanwhile here, as you noted, Obama went surfing. And ate a sno-cone. And wore flip-flops.
We will get more appeasement talk out of our left—more “come, let us reason together.” Meanwhile, let’s hope the rest of us arm ourselves.
Hi, --
I came across this post looking for something else.
Have you noticed that with the collapse of the sub-prime-backed mortgages, and the collapse of the speculative price of oil, Wall St. really *has* kicked the stuffing out of the Russkies?
Cheers!
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