Posted on 08/22/2008 5:03:44 AM PDT by kellynla
A specter is haunting Europe-the specter of Putinism. Confronted by a masterful Russian leader without living peer in brilliance or ruthlessness, the continent sorely lacks leadership and a sense of common purpose. In their muddled reactions to the Kremlin's invasion of Georgia, European states revealed a gap in perceptions that threatens to deepen: Those who suffered under the Soviet yoke sense the return of an existential threat, while those who thrived under the Pax Americana are merely annoyed at being disturbed. As Russian troops and their mercenary auxiliaries savaged a free, democratic country yearning Westward, the world got another lesson in how ineffectual Europe is in a crisis without American leadership.
The United States performed no better. Scorned for his aggressive behavior in the past, President Bush spent the first crucial days of the Georgia crisis as a bewildered observer reluctant to recognize the gravity of the problem. Putin went to war and the American president went to a basketball game--reinforcing the Kremlin's conviction that it could do as it pleased and get away with it. (Bush's gravest flaw is that he's a dreadful judge of character, stubbornly trusting undeserving men, from Iraqi schemer Ahmed Chalabi, through the incompetent Alberto Gonzales, to Vladimir Putin, who played Bush for a fool.)
The American president is furious now, but it's too late. High noon came and went, and the much-derided cowboy-president wasn't there when he was needed. Instead, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, well-intentioned and inadequate, took time off from the Feydeau farce of his personal life and rushed to Moscow to "demand" a cease-fire in Georgia.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Now the old Europe is looking for peace at any price and before everything want to live confortable even if they give up their freedom....
Good point NO European unity!
Those who praised the “CITIZEN OF THE WORLD” in BERLIN are NOT USA’ allies!
oubssama is fooling himself and the fan crowds
Old lessons will need to be relearned in blood. Many will decry how it comes about, and many will deny any hand in setting the stage for what is about to happen in Europe. This time, the US may not come to the rescue.
The next POTUS will need to bring back the draft.
“President Bush spent the first crucial days of the Georgia crisis as a bewildered observer reluctant to recognize the gravity of the problem”
And if I wuz the President I woulda ......................
Real warriors can turn themselves into armchair warriors with long practice and a certain amount of readership adulation.
Exactly. I think your President is handling this just right.
Meanwhile, in Russia, men, even young men, die of acute alchoholism. The average life span is only 51. Babies are aborted as the general rule.
Russia is in serious decline.
Money, national oil money won’t buy happiness
Putin is trying to return to a state of mind that failed to produce Tylenol but is the best he can come up with.
Ouch! That's going to leave a mark!
What the Russkies want is the pipeline!
Among other things.
But I was just being sarcastic about the Sudatenland - it was only 60 years ago that we went through this same thing in the same region with the same types of people.
Since Georgia is not under the NATO umbrella, GWB probably had no legal authority to act. And the MSM and Dems would have immediately started impeachment proceedings.
Yep. I admire Peters’ analytical skills greatly, but in this case I do wonder what the naysayers would have had us do.
Especially considering that the President was inside a communist country and there were loads of athletes in a politically precarious situation. Remember Munich.
None of that was an insurmountable obstacle, but what, pray tell, is the thinking on what we should have done in immediate response, all things considered?
“While it may be unhelpful to be an alarmist, it’s even less useful to be willfully naïve.”
The money concept of his analysis. We’re willfully naive and it’s going to bite us in the ass and cause many more casualties than if we respond fast and hard - but, as he also notes, that opportunity is past. It will be long and bloody, and classic warfare. Which we’re no longer equipped to participate in.
Colonel, USAFR
I’m split on it. We’ve got the smartest cadre of military members we’ve ever had, and they’re all volunteers. OTOH, I agree with you that we should all serve. “The blood of patriots” is a concept not enough young (or middle-aged) people understand - yet.
Colonel, USAFR
Son of Lt Col, USAF (Ret)
We could have acted if requested to act by Georgia... we did it in Korea in the 50s and in Vietnam in the early 60s.
The most damning “The United States performed no better. Scorned for his aggressive behavior in the past, President Bush spent the first crucial days of the Georgia crisis as a bewildered observer reluctant to recognize the gravity of the problem.”.
We will now have to ratchet up the Defense budget to address this new threat. Past talks of shutting down military bases in Germany and southern Europe are now off the table. This is the new reality.
I believe Korea was, at least formally, a UN operation. Could be wrong; haven’t taken time to research.
Lots he could have done:
1) Remove Russia from the G8
2) Enact a trade embargo
3) Fill every Georgian city with 2000 US troops
The assumptions of the ruling class of the West has been that we will all be in some sort of World Government soon, more than likely modeled on what the USSR was supposed to be. Russia acting like Russia against a neighboring country is really outside their scope of thinking. Much like 1 billion muslims who want to conquer or kill us is.
It is not so much a surprise as a break from what they thought was reality. Nationalist and religious motivation for war was supposed to be gone (notice how the US has framed their last few conflicts, and compare that with the 19th century). Russia has defined this war in Georgia as one for the Russian people. Not in any PC speak or UN talk. They are defending their tribe.
And our leaders do not know how to identify with that, much less fight it.
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