President Bush to Make Statement on Georgia-Russia Crisis at 5:15 p.m. EDT

[Scythian]

Headline only so far on fox news ...

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Maybe he was just REALLY REALLY DUMB!! (Doubt it)

[Jeff Head]

Jim, he’s dead.

[mkjessup]

You are wrong. We have the weaponry and the aircraft to deliver it that were designed precisely for stopping these types of armored and infantry column advances. As in completely decimating them. We have aircraft from Northern Iraq who could. I believe we should escort those transport aircraft into Georgia carrying the Georgian Iraq troops with fighter and attack aircraft so that if the Russians so much as sneazed at them that we then used them.

Jeff, you're not thinking here. Such an action would result in U.S. and Russian forces firing on each other (which may yet happen), and that alone could very easily trigger a nuclear confrontation, possibly a nuclear exchange at least at the tactical level.

You want to figure out the logistics here? The Russians are literally next door. You think we can establish and maintain supply lines to essentially fight a war with the Russians on their front doorstep?

Uh uh, you don't want to go there, and Putin would love for you to.

[eastforker]

Nope, he was a Vlad bag.

[mkjessup]

When push came to shove, Eisenhower let the Hungarians twist in the wind.
I'm afraid history will repeat itself. I was quite edified to see how quickly the U.S. military got the Georgian soldiers back to their homeland. I hope President Bush acts as quickly. Putin is waiting to see if we blink - exactly the way the USSR did WRT Hungary. We blinked then - I hope we don't blink now.

I would be somewhat reassured if Bush had the geopolitical and military background of an Eisenhower, and yet even Ike made the wrong decision.

I hope we're all luckier this time.

[ColoCdn]

I CANNOT believe it!!

I GOT IN BEFORE THE ZOT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!

(gonna go and get a lottery ticket now)

[Centurion2000]

Nope, he was a Vlad bag.

Or Vlad Hag. We'll never know now.

I know, we're all gonna be saddened and crushed by the mystery.

[mkjessup]

Oh so wrong you are young grasshopper. There are quite a number of things that can (and will) be done. Some you will see, and some you won’t. And we are quite a long ways away from talking about atomic weapons.

I ain't that young, and I'm for damn sure no grasshopper pal.

As for the atomic weapons? You think Russia has just been probing our air defenses for grins lately?

Think again.

[Enchante]

Short of real concerted decisive action from the USA and NATO (can’t say I can envision what we would actually do in this case that would make a difference), Putin could not care less what angry words are uttered right now. He’ll do what he wants and then try to patch things up a bit afterwards.

Putin toward Georgia right now is like what Stalin said of the Pope: “how many divisions does he have?” In the long run Stalin’s empire was brought down with much help from the Pope, but that took many decades. In the short run, Putin is going to thumb his nose at the world and no one is going to go to war with Russia to stop him.

[McGruff]

"...now it appears that an effort may be underway to depose Russia's duly elected government..."

I heard that live. Jeez. A moment as important at this and he can't make the statement with out a gaffe. Putin must be laughing.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I GOT IN BEFORE THE ZOT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!

Congratulations! Of course he was tolerated for a long, long, time!

[McGruff]

Thank you Putin!!!

So long pal. Maybe there's a www.CommunistRepublic.com you can register on.

[ColoCdn]

My happiness cup overfloweth right now!

8 years, wasn’t he? A liberal mind is a terrible thing (”to waste” would be oxymoronic).

[Jeff Head]

We have the aircraft and the weaponry in northern Iraq, something like 350 miles from there, to effect it if Turke gave us overflight rights...and I believe they would. Our bases in Turkey are even closer and they could well allow us to stage from there. We are not that far away.

I do not believe our air support would trigger a nuclear exchange in the least, but it might blunt and stop the absolute take over of a free, freindly, allied nation that came to our aid when we called for help.

If we do nothing in this early stage of Putin's plans, to help them and they get trodden under, then I believe the impact of that will be something that is much more likely to lead, over time, to a much more severe nuclear risk.

I had initially thought that we could escort those transports in there with armed fighter escorts and dare the Rusians to challenge us. Apparently the troops are already either all there, or mostly there and there was no incident.

But that's my own opinion.

[mnehring]

Georgia is just another Militant Muslim state..

No offense, and I know this is breaking the rules about personal attacks, but you are an idiot. Georgia is a Christian nation (actually, the first Christian nation). Georgia is a democratic republic and has been a long ally. You, however, have shown yourself to be no more intelligent than the average DU 30 year old, warcraft dork, living in his mommy's basement. I tried to give you several opportunities to clarify dumb statements and this one proved my suspicion. May you enjoy Valhalla.

[mnehring]

Darn it! I knew I should have read the rest of the posts before I went off on his a**.

[ColoCdn]

Ah, the Zot Kitties.
“Wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful!” (Lawrence Welk, for those over 45)

The smell of Zot in the air...:)

[Enchante]

All the ‘must’ in the world ain’t worth spit if you’re not read and able to force your will on the object of your words if they do not comply.

Democrats and UN fools talk this way all the time..... so-and-so ‘must’ do this and that. Putin is thumbing his nose at the world, and it’s hard to see what real action could be taken that would (1) be agreed upon by the USA and NATO, and (2) actually occur in time to make a difference.

Putin will have carved up Georgia, imposed the solution he wants, and then he will pretend to be ready to ‘negotiate’ with the UN and EU, etc..... after he’s already imposed his will.

All this ‘must’ talk about Russia is just b.s. unless the USA and/or other nations are ready and willing to stop Russia, hard. I don’t see that happening......

p.s. I thought it was b.s. when President Bush said he peered into Putin’s soul and this proves it. All those nice words said about Putin were not worth a cup of warm spit.

Putin is a ruthless KGB hack without a soul but he certainly knows how to impose his will with military force while the rest of the world squawks..... how ‘nice’ of him to do it on the opening weekend of the Olympics, which is supposed to be a time for military truce.

There is one symbolic thing we can do which will piss off and embarrass Putin - it won’t help the current situation in Georgia but it would be a good kick in the teeth for Putin: The best (only) thing we could do is insist that the 2014 Winter Olympics will NOT be held in Russia under any circumstances — there’s plenty of time to make other arrangements so that it does not end up as a boycott ala 1980. IF Russia wants to boycott the new location, well screw ‘em, who want them there anyway.