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Russia's War is the West's Challenge (WaPo Op-Ed by President of Georgia)
The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, August 13, 2008 | Mikheil Saakashvili

Posted on 08/13/2008 5:49:48 PM PDT by kristinn

TBILISI, Georgia -- Russia's invasion of Georgia strikes at the heart of Western values and our 21st-century system of security. If the international community allows Russia to crush our democratic, independent state, it will be giving carte blanche to authoritarian governments everywhere. Russia intends to destroy not just a country but an idea.

For too long, we all underestimated the ruthlessness of the regime in Moscow. Yesterday brought further evidence of its duplicity: Within 24 hours of agreeing to a cease-fire, Russian forces were rampaging through Gori; blocking the port of Poti; sinking Georgian vessels; and -- worst of all -- brutally purging Georgian villages in South Ossetia, raping women and executing men.

The Russian leadership cannot be trusted -- and this hard reality should guide the West's response. Only Western peacekeepers can end the war.

Russia also seeks to destroy our economy and is bombing factories, ports and other vital sites. Accordingly, we need to establish a modern version of the Berlin Airlift; the United Nations, the United States, Canada and others are moving in this direction, for which we are deeply grateful.

SNIP

This war threatens not only Georgia but security and liberty around the world. If the international community fails to take a resolute stand, it will have sounded the death knell for the spread of freedom and democracy everywhere.

SNIP

I have staked my country's fate on the West's rhetoric about democracy and liberty. As Georgians come under attack, we must ask: If the West is not with us, who is it with? If the line is not drawn now, when will it be drawn? We cannot allow Georgia to become the first victim of a new world order as imagined by Moscow.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: caucasus; easterneurope; geopolitics; georgia; saakashvili; sorospuppet; southossetia; thewest; war
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To: Patrick1

It’s nyet... I guess you are not russian.

LLS


41 posted on 08/13/2008 6:52:58 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer ( REAGANISM not communism)
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To: MarMema

Again, Churchill didn’t lead in battle. He didn’t write op-eds after the war started. He stated the plan and carried it out. This guy is to busy to lead because he is trying to get the Washington Post editorial board to demand the U.S. do something.

That might have worked in 1968 it doesn’t now. What he should do is bring the media in and show them the death and destruction and start killing Russians.


42 posted on 08/13/2008 6:54:19 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: LibLieSlayer

I can’t find the exact quote, but a thought submitted by a reader a few years ago to James Taranto of the Opinion Journal (WSJ.COM) had it that thanks to freedom of speech and the Internet we can now quickly find out who the idiots are!


43 posted on 08/13/2008 6:56:42 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
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To: LibLieSlayer

It is pronounced “nyet” but spelled net. I guess you aren’t Russian either.


44 posted on 08/13/2008 6:57:15 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: Patrick1
That is so shallow.

What the heck else is he supposed to do? Don a helmet and grab his AK 47?

It is not as if anything that he does will matter much, but your take on the situation is rather immature, IMHO.

45 posted on 08/13/2008 6:58:46 PM PDT by Radix (Think it is bad now? Wait until you have to press "2" for English!)
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To: Patrick1

Well, when the Russians run his ass out of the country maybe he can get a job at the Post as a stringer.


46 posted on 08/13/2008 6:59:43 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: mylife

You and I must be strange people.

I thought the same thing. lol


47 posted on 08/13/2008 7:02:13 PM PDT by dixiechick2000 (Between Barack and a hard place...)
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To: Patrick1

I can think of several leaders who were outnumbered and outgunned whose first response wasn’t to write a letter to the editor. And some of them actually ended up winning.


48 posted on 08/13/2008 7:02:20 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: kristinn

49 posted on 08/13/2008 7:04:00 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
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To: Patrick1
Again, Churchill didn’t lead in battle. He didn’t write op-eds after the war started. He stated the plan and carried it out. This guy is to busy to lead because he is trying to get the Washington Post editorial board to demand the U.S. do something. That might have worked in 1968 it doesn’t now. What he should do is bring the media in and show them the death and destruction and start killing Russians.

Most people have seen enough media reports to know what is happening. Easy enough for someone sitting in his Laz-E-Boy to urge "start killing Russians". The Russians have 10 tanks to the Georgians 1. They need help.

50 posted on 08/13/2008 7:04:41 PM PDT by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: dixiechick2000

Well... It does get your attention.


51 posted on 08/13/2008 7:04:41 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Revolting cat!

So if you disagree with the Duncan Hunter crowd you are troll?


52 posted on 08/13/2008 7:04:56 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: mylife

It sure got mine! ;o)


53 posted on 08/13/2008 7:05:34 PM PDT by dixiechick2000 (Between Barack and a hard place...)
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To: SnuffaBolshevik

Of course they need help. But it would be easier to get the country to help a man who is leading the defense of his country instead of acting like Bob Herbert.


54 posted on 08/13/2008 7:09:04 PM PDT by Patrick1
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To: Patrick1

Britain would have been starved out, annhialated, and overrun if not for our help with supplies, arms, and logistics, and history wouldn’t look so kindly upon Churchill’s leadership.

Now Georgia needs our help, and he needs to make his case to the American people.

What do you want him to do, pick up a rifle, fix his bayonet, and charge the Russian lines?


55 posted on 08/13/2008 7:10:52 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Cthulu '08! Why vote for the lesser evil?)
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To: mikey_hates_everything

Those people who obfuscate for the Kremlin by claiming that Kosovo set the precedent have it backwards. The USSR, as it collapsed, started or fueled the civil wars in Georgia and Azerbaijan to keep the red boot on the Caucuses. They tried similar ethnic violence in the Baltics, where it failed, and TransDiniester, where it worked. Hence Moldova has not rejoined Romania, despite having been carved out of it in World War 2.


56 posted on 08/13/2008 7:13:55 PM PDT by rmlew (I stand with Georgia against the Kremlin's Russian irredentism and Soviet revanchism.)
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To: Patrick1

He’s using his time very wisely. Georgia cannot defeat Russia alone, just as Britain could not defeat Germany alone.

Churchill spent quite a bit of time talking to Americans about the greater cause. So in effect, Churchill he is.


57 posted on 08/13/2008 7:15:35 PM PDT by SampleMan (We are a free and industrious people, socialist nannies do not become us.)
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To: Patrick1

With all do respect, Georgia has to do a better job of getting facts out. Thanks to the Russian domination of information in the region and the help of communists and ignorami in the international press, we are told that Goergia initiated this conflict. Actually, it was the Russian-backed Oseetes who did, following Russian reinforcements and a Russian “excercise” in the region.


58 posted on 08/13/2008 7:16:26 PM PDT by rmlew (I stand with Georgia against the Kremlin's Russian irredentism and Soviet revanchism.)
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To: microgood

The man has a well known record as President. Perhaps you should read up on that before casting dispersions.


59 posted on 08/13/2008 7:19:13 PM PDT by SampleMan (We are a free and industrious people, socialist nannies do not become us.)
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To: kristinn

Voice of Russia is reporting that its the US’s fault, That Condi egged on Misha giving him mixed messages.

Okay....

They also deny sinking ships or bring anywhere near Poti

What a load of horsepucky


60 posted on 08/13/2008 7:20:42 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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