Posted on 08/10/2008 12:20:34 AM PDT by Bokababe
...."Strategically, the Russians have been sending signals that they really wanted to flex their muscles, and they're upset about Kosovo," the diplomat said. He was alluding to Russia's anger at the West for recognizing Kosovo's independence from Serbia earlier this year.
Indeed, the decision by the United States and Europe to recognize Kosovo may well have paved the way for Russia's lightning-fast decision to send troops to back the separatists in South Ossetia. During one meeting on Kosovo in Brussels this year, Lavrov, the foreign minister, warned Rice and European diplomats that if they recognized Kosovo, they would be setting a precedent for South Ossetia and other breakaway provinces. As easily as the West could encourage a former Russian satellite toward independence and away from Russia's sphere of influence, the Russians warned, so too, could Moscow encourage pro-Russian breakaway regions like South Ossetia to follow suit.
For the Bush administration, the choice now becomes whether backing Georgia — which, more than any other former Soviet republic has allied with the United States — on the South Ossetia issue is worth alienating Russia at a time when getting Russia's help to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions is at the top of the United States' foreign policy agenda.
One United Nations diplomat joked on Saturday that "if someone went to the Russians and said, 'OK, Kosovo for Iran,' we'd have a deal."....
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Ping
How many votes did Russia get at the UN? None? And what organizations, anywhere, support it? None? Not one?
Oh well, the entire world, even Fiji, Upper Volta are wrong.
Good thing Russia has the love and affection of all it's neighbors. Those that know, understand and love her best.
You mean the sleeping bear just woke up. We should have demanded Russia disarm after they lost the cold war and dissolved the USSR. Instead we invested in that corrupt, mafia shit-hole.
yes, because Russia has been so helpful in reigning in Iran’s nuke program.
We were wrong in Kosovo...and Russia was right.
And now..
Russia is wrong in Georgia and we are right.
Nobody will come to Georgia’s aid...certainly not US...we are afraid of a direct clash with Russian troops...and rightly so.
Not because their troops and equipment would stand a chance against us..they would be utterly destroyed in short order. But they still have that enormous nuclear arsenal :-(
Imagine what a group of Warthogs and F-22’s would do to the Russians in Georgia in just a few hours.
If McCain were president I actually believe he would make moves to directly confront Russian troops....not a good thing. We are so screwed this election.
As distateful as it is to stand back, its all we can do.
Just as Ike had no choice in 1956 (in case anyone remembers). And that occurred with a quarter million man
US garrison in Germany and no wars ongoing elsewhere in the
world (and of course, no Russian nuclear tipped missiles
as exist today). If we involve ourselves, we will have no
staying power. Turkey won’t allow its territory to be
used for a Georgian rescue operation, its unlikely that
any of the other eastern european countries want to involve
themselves either. Russian oil/gas fuels their economies.
That part of the world is not one we can fix. We should
concentrate on those parts we can fix.
I agree, if McCain were in charge, there'd be no small element of "payback" in his policy towards Russia. He'd make them bleed if he could justify it. "Justify" being the key word.
I'll take that over a President Obama asking Putin what size chair he wants in the Oval Office...
“Russia’s help” with Iran! What are they talking about? Russia has been doing its evil best to sabotage all our efforts to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
The Russians are in no way our friends, particularly the conniving, cold-hearted, sneaky KGB-man Putin.
The evolution of this problem shows that elections do matter as the 1992 Election of BJ Clinton resulted in squandering the opportunity we had in helping moving Russia into an alliance with US and then the yellow-belly Clinton manages to attack Serbia after getting rolled by the Germans and the EU crappers! Then idiot GWB manages to continues the same mistake....WTH is wrong here?
Thank you. That is the most correct and concise analysis of this situation anyone could ask for.
Perhaps our incompetent Secretary Of State would even understand it.
Our position in Kosovo has been so very wrong from the first and now it has borne more bitter fruit.
Innocent people in both Kosovo and Georgia have suffered because of incompetent US foreign policy motivated more by political correctness than principle.
We have ample proof, starting with Madeline Albright, that The Secretary of State is too important to be just another Affirmative Action appointee.
But I am afraid that future presidents will see this as a new tradition and continue to make the same poor appointments that Clinton and Bush have made.
This is the official line of Pravda West The NY Times. IHT is owned by the Times, wherein still roams the ghost of Walter Duranty, it seems.
Okay. More liberalism here.
WE are responsible for the actions of others.
RUSSIA did this, but it is OUR fault. More of the same mindset of “We FORCED Japan to attack us at Pearl Harbor by placing embargoes on exports to them because THEY invaded Manchuria.”
I kind of like this liberal mindset. Basically, you can do ANYTHING as long as you can find some kind of justification that explains it.
Simply disgusting.
More stupidity here. Russia has made it abundantly clear they want a nuclear Iran, and they don't give a flying eff what anyone thinks. Why those dumb asses can justify this beyond a few pieces of Judased Silver is beyond me. They like to talk about the capitalist money grubbers, at least we tried to view self interests beyond some soiled currency most of the time.
They are going to regret it in the end.
Russia's HELP??? With friends like Russia, who needs enemies?
The real danger to all of us is our dependence on OPEC oil - and the Saudi and Gulf Muslim funding of worldwide jihad and its gobbling up of our finacial institutions.
Iran is all talk...and little action-— we have been deceived.
Royally by by both parties and by our own state dept cabal.
You need a reality check - stop spouting off generalizations that mean nothing!
The south Ossetians broke off from Georgia in 1989...and since then the new Soros financed Georgian govt destabilized the region.
The Paranoid Islamic Turks would like nothing better than for the US to get more involved.
After all with the Georgian-Turkish pipeline burning as we speak they have a direct stake in all this.
The US as usual since the breakup of the SU is making disastrous alliances and maintaining disastrous past alliances.
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