‘Invasion of Georgia’—a ‘3 a.m. moment’

Politico ^ | 8/9/08 | Ben Smith

[Mike Fieschko]

When the North Caucasus slid into war Thursday night, it presented Senators John McCain and Barack Obama with a true '3 a.m. moment,' and their responses to the crisis suggested dramatic differences in how each candidate, as president, would lead America in moments of international crisis.

While Obama offered a response largely in line with statements issued by democratically elected world leaders, including President Bush, first calling on both sides to negotiate, John McCain took a remarkably-and uniquely-more aggressive stance, siding clearly with Georgia's pro-Western leaders and placing the blame for the conflict entirely on Russia.

The abrupt crisis in an obscure hotspot had the features of the real foreign policy situations presidents face-not the clean hypotheticals of candidates's white papers and debating points.

Russia, has long attempted to reclaim now sovereign parts of the former Soviet Union, stoking conflicts in the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are universally recognized to be Georgian soil. They've also used the ensuing military tensions to set back Georgia's bid to enter NATO.

But Georgia appears to have sparked the conflict by marching on the South Ossetian capital as Russia's powerful Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, headed to Beijing for the Olympic Games. Russia, in turn, welcomed the conflict, launching a large-scale attack on its smaller neighbor and sending tanks across its border.

Both American candidates back Georgia's sovereignty and its turn toward the West. But their first statements on the crisis revealed differences of substance and style.

Obama's statement put him in line with the White House, the European Union, NATO, and a series of European powers, while McCain's initial statement-which he delivered in Iowa and ran on a blog on his Web site under the title 'McCain Statement on Russian Invasion of Georgia,'-put him more closely in line with the moral clarity and American exceptionalism projected by President Bush's first term.

A McCain advisor suggested Obama's statement constituted appeasement, while Obama's camp suggested that McCain was being needlessly belligerent and dangerously quick to judge a complicated situation.

'I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict,' Obama said in a written statement. 'Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected.'

Obama added briefly that the international community should get involved. More than an hour later, as more details of Russia's incursion into Georgia emerged, he cited Russia more directly: 'What is clear is that Russia has invaded Georgia's sovereign-has encroached on Georgia's sovereignty,' he told reporters in Sacramento.

McCain's statement was longer, more detailed, and more confrontational.

'[T]he news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an internationally recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.

'The government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen.'

John McCain's top foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann, defended McCain's direct criticism of Russia in the early hours of the crisis.

'Senator McCain is clearly willing to note who he thinks is the aggressor here,' he said, dismissing the notion that Georgia's move into its renegade province had precipitated the crisis. 'I don't think you can excuse defend explain or make allowance for Russian behavior because of what is going on in Georgia.'

He also criticized Obama for calling on both sides to show “restraint,” and suggested the Democrat was putting too much blame on the conflict’s clear victim.

“That's kind of like saying after Saddam, Hussein invaded Kuwait, that Kuwait and Iraq need to show restraint, or like saying in 1968 [when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia] ...that the Czechoslovaks should show restraint,” he said.

A foreign policy advisor for Obama, Ben Rhodes, said Obama was deliberately measured in response to the conflict, balancing his disapproval of Russia’s “troubling behavior in its near-abroad region” with “the fact that we have to deal with Russia to deal with our most important national security challenges.”

Rhodes declined to discuss McCain’s statement directly, but indirectly criticized it.

"The temperature of your rhetoric isn't a measure of your commitment to Georgian sovereignty,” he said, noting that the two candidates’ statements shared a substantive commitment to Georgia’s borders. “You don't want to get so far in front of a situation that you're feeding the momentum of an escalation.”

Critics of McCain’s stance said he’d imposed ideology on a complicated situation, in which both sides bear some blame.

“McCain took an inflexible approach to addressing this issue by focusing heavily on one side, without a pragmatic assessment of the situation,” said Mark Brzezinski, a former Clinton White House official and an informal advisor to Obama.

“It’s both side’s fault—both have been somewhat provocative with each other,” he said.

A fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Ariel Cohen, by contrast, praised McCain’s statement as “robust and tough.”

The candidates’ stances also reflected their broader goals in the region. Obama, Rhodes noted, has argued that the American interest in controlling nuclear material in the former Soviet Union and in other national security concerns means that the country should maintain a constructive relationship with Russia, even when Russia mistreats its population and threatens its neighbors.

McCain, meanwhile, has offered more sticks than carrots, and suggested that Russia will respond primarily to American toughness and resolve. He’s also called for Russia to be expelled from the Group of Eight industrial nations, a move unlikely to be supported by its other members, but one that makes his disapproval of Russia’s conduct very clear. Friday, as the crisis unfolded, he reiterated that stance.

The conflict in Georgia also brought attention another complicating feature of McCain’s campaign: His ties to Republican operatives with extensive lobbying practices. Scheunemann was, until earlier this year, registered to lobby for the government of Georgia.

A public relations firm working for the Russian Federation pointed out Scheunemann’s lobbying past to reporters—a sign that McCain’s stance is not, for better or worse, being welcomed in Moscow—as did Obama’s campaign.

“John McCain’s top foreign policy advisor lobbied for, and has a vested interest in, the Republic of Georgia and McCain has mirrored the position advocated by the government,” said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan, saying the “appearances of a conflict of interest” was a consequence of McCain’s too-close ties to lobbyists.

Scheunemann dismissed the criticism, saying he severed his ties to his firm and to his client on March 1, and noting that McCain has been a firm supporter of Georgia's move toward the west, and away from Russia, since the Arizona senator's first visit there in 1997.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump.

[J40000]

Hey, where are all the screaming libs to protest against Russia for invading without UN approval??

[JasonC]

None of this useless diplomacy calls and PR spin is going to make the slightest difference, nor is up to the height of the times.

This is testing behavior to see if they can swallow Ukraine after the election.

The proper response would be to announce that 50 operational nuclear weapons have been stationed in the Ukraine and the Ukrainian military provided with single-key launch codes to use them.

That would concentrate minds in the Kremlin. This mere talk, on the other hand, screams "no worries, full speed ahead to world war".

[dfwgator]

Bingo. This was like Hitler using the Sudetenland to test the will of his enemies. This is ultimately about Ukraine and other states joining NATO, Russia is using this to gauge the reaction.

[Raycpa]

What the diplomatic side of the WH says and the private side says are not necessarily the same.

[magellan]

"This was like Hitler using the Sudetenland ... "

What a near-perfect parallel. This is frighteningly similar.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

this is Russia attacking one of our allies!!!Soviet Union trying to get the map back to when they had Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Latvia etc.

What the F.. is going on here?? Obama couldn’t handle a 3 am moment if he had diahrrhea at 3 am!!

[ETL]

Frank Marshall Davis

Obama’s Red Mentor Praised Red Army
AIM Report | By Cliff Kincaid | April 30, 2008

Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA, wrote a poem dedicated to the Soviet Red Army. “Smash on, victory-eating Red Army,” he declared. He also wrote poems attacking traditional Christianity and the work of Christian missionaries.

The “Red Army” poem goes beyond hoping for the communists to beat the Nazis in World War II and hails the Soviet revolution. It says:

Show the marveling multitudes
Americans, British, all your allied brothers
How strong you are
How great you are
How your young tree of new unity
Planted twenty-five years ago
Bears today the golden fruit of victory!

http://www.aim.org/aim-report/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army/

________________________________________________

"'The Black Book of Communism,' a scholarly accounting of communism’s crimes, counts about 94 million murdered by the supposed champions of the common man (20 million for the Soviets alone), and some say that number is too low."
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmY0MjI1MDgyYjg1M2UwNDMzMTk2Mjk5YTk0ZTdlMWE=

____________________________________

From Accuracy In Media | AIM.ORG

Obama’s Communist Mentor
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | February 18, 2008

excerpt...

"through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his 'poetry' and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just 'Frank.'

The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What's more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations."

Frank Chapman, a CPUSA supporter, has written a letter to the party newspaper hailing the Illinois senator's victory in the Iowa caucuses:

"Obama’s victory was more than a progressive move; it was a dialectical leap ushering in a qualitatively new era of struggle. Marx once compared revolutionary struggle with the work of the mole, who sometimes burrows so far beneath the ground that he leaves no trace of his movement on the surface. This is the old revolutionary 'mole,' not only showing his traces on the surface but also breaking through."
People's Weekly World (PWW), official newspaper of the Communist Party, USA

Source article: Obama’s Communist Mentor
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Bingo is right!

If we blink on this aggression, the Germans deserve what they get...where is the EU to protect countries from soviet aggression?

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

The Obama campaign must be freakin. They know he isnt americas first choice for POTUS in a high stakes game of chicken with the Ruskies

[Gorzaloon]

this is Russia attacking one of our allies!!!Soviet Union trying to get the map back to when they had Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Latvia etc.

It is also a kleptocracy of gangsters intent on blowing up the pipeline to assure its fuel stranglehold on Europe.

[shadowgovernment]

when you get 40% of your energy from russia - your hands are tied..russia has the EU by the short ones on oil and gas
and will use that weapon to keep them in line..Nato’s tiger has had it's teeth and claws pulled..what was left of them
anyway.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Hey, where are all the screaming libs to protest against Russia for invading without UN approval??

They approve. They've been after the Russians to do something about Georgia ever since the Confederate Flag contraversy

Georgia is a dagger aimed at the heart of Russia. They're only protecting the Sudeten Russians.

[Steely Tom]

The Obama campaign must be freakin. They know he isnt americas first choice for POTUS in a high stakes game of chicken with the Ruskies

He's on vacation. Why should anyone be freakin' about anything? They be chillin' an' eatin' de pineapple.

[mick]

It's 3:00 am and the President gets a call........old Mack's first thought is to get pissed off, thinks clearly about who is to blame, and then barks orders.........boyBO’s first thought is to wonder why the Russians are doing this to him, wets his pants, and then calls his advisors to find out what to say.

The Driveby’s can't hide this one.....I think the soccer moms and metrosexuals are going to peek out from their self centered world of life coaches and diets and notice that the world is still a very dangerous place. 'bout time !

[aruanan]

Nor let us forget these words of Davis:

I was a weaver of jagged words
A warbler of garbled tunes
A singer of savage songs
I was bitter
Yes
Bitter and sorely sad
For when I wrote
I dipped my pen
In the crazy heart
Of mad America

—Frank Marshall Davis

[dila813]

Anyone who thinks that Russia wasn’t waiting for this opportunity is a fool.

How do you think they could roll 150 tanks across the border so quick? They were right there waiting for this moment.

[genghis]

now if mccain will make you secretary of efense, i might vote for him.
Good recommendation

[ETL]

Blowing up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror
by Alexander Litvinenko, Yuri Felshtinsky, Geoffrey Andrews and Co (Translator), Geoffrey Andrews and Co. (Translator)

Synopsis: Blowing Up Russia contains the allegations of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko against his former spymasters in Moscow which led to his being murdered in London in November 2006. In the book he and historian Yuri Felshtinsky detail how since 1999 the Russian secret service has been hatching a plot to return to the terror that was the hallmark of the KGB. Vividly written and based on Litvinenko's 20 years of insider knowledge of Russian spy campaigns, Blowing Up Russia describes how the successor of the KGB fabricated terrorist attacks and launched a war. Writing about Litvinenko, the surviving co-author recounts how the banning of the book in Russia led to three earlier deaths.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Blowing-up-Russia/Alexander-Litvinenko/e/9781594032011

_______________________________________________________

Putin's Poison?
by Peter Brookes
November 27, 2006

The death of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, last week from radioactive Polonium-210 poisoning is the latest in a series of politically motivated attacks on the outspoken opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112706a.cfm

______________________________________________________

Radioactive Link To Dead Spy
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/200828513553599

______________________________________________________

"The crisis was sparked earlier this week when Georgia sent troops into the breakaway province of South Ossetia to quell a Russian-backed separatist uprising."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russia-On-Verge-Of-All-Out-War-As-Troops-Clash-In-Georgias-South-Ossetia/Article/200808215074261?lpos=World%2BNews_4&lid=ARTICLE_15074261_Russia%2BOn%2BVerge%2BOf%2BAll-Out%2BWar%2BAs%2BTroops%2BClash%2BIn%2BGeo

Putin on "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century":
"World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'
http://www.hooverdigest.org/053/beichman.html

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html

Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
Reuters: Aug 17, 2007
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

U.S. Navy Intercepts Russian Bombers Flying Near Ships
Monday, February 11, 2008
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330362,00.html

"the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century"???

"'The Black Book of Communism,' a scholarly accounting of communism’s crimes, counts about 94 million murdered by the supposed champions of the common man (20 million for the Soviets alone), and some say that number is too low."
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmY0MjI1MDgyYjg1M2UwNDMzMTk2Mjk5YTk0ZTdlMWE=