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(Putin is NOT Hitler) Melos, Morals, Matryoshkas and Majorities: Of Sudetenland and South Ossetia
Newsvine ^ | 8-15-08 | jfxgillis

Posted on 08/15/2008 7:26:30 AM PDT by chickadee

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To: chickadee
I haven’t read any Russian propaganda.

Nah, you just parrot it as 'justification' for the Russian attack on Georgia.

41 posted on 08/15/2008 8:13:53 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: ZX12R
You will get bullied more?

He'll get backed up by the occasional Soviet apologist, too, don't worry.

42 posted on 08/15/2008 8:19:07 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: dirtboy
Right now, I think the Europeans are breathing a sigh of relief that they didn't accept Georgia into NATO. I know I am. We do not need another war at this time. I'm also pretty tired of the U.S. being the world's policeman, while the Euros sit on their fat behinds and call us war mongers because they are too chicken to do anything. This problem in Georgia is much closer to Europe than to the U.S. I do note that Sarkozy (on behalf of the EU) is the one who negotiated the cease fire. Shouldn't it be up to Europe to enforce it, then?
43 posted on 08/15/2008 8:27:32 AM PDT by chickadee
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To: chickadee
This problem in Georgia is much closer to Europe than to the U.S.

You really need to read more. Georgia is our flight corridor from our bases in Europe to Afghanistan. It is also a corridor for Caspian oil to bypass Putin's control.

And do you really want Putin to have more uncontested petropower than the Saudis? Putin has already used oil as a weapon. It doesn't matter whether that oil is going to Europe or to us. It's about the power that uncontested control of the Caspian production would give Putin.

44 posted on 08/15/2008 8:35:28 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: wideawake
clap-clap-clap-clap! Bravo Sir, Bravo!
45 posted on 08/15/2008 8:47:48 AM PDT by douginthearmy (Obamaniacs suffering from "inevitability complex" go cold turkey Nov'08.)
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To: wideawake

The answer to that is simple enough. North Ossetians and South Ossetians view themselves as Russians, not Georgians. South Ossetians were living under Georgian rule.

And then there is this:

###The U.S. accepts the borders of the U.S.S.R. that existed when the Roosevelt Administration recognized the Soviet government in 1933, 12 years after the de facto annexation of Georgia. The forcible incorporation of the Baltic republics came seven years later. Therefore the Bush Administration supports the Balts’ claim to independence but considers the Georgian issue a domestic affair of the U.S.S.R.###

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973116,00.html>

I guess we recognize Russia’s right to settle its internal disputes except when we don’t?

[p.s. It is Bush 41 who is referred to in the above quote.]


46 posted on 08/15/2008 8:55:29 AM PDT by chickadee
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To: chickadee; All
BTW, everybody should check out the author's previous column:
"Now I Have a More Wickeder Crush on Nancy Pelosi Than Ever!"

Very insightful.

47 posted on 08/15/2008 8:55:50 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: chickadee
I tried to be objective when I first read about this war too, but the more you read the more the Russian line doesn't pass the smell test. I watched the Brookings Institute presentation on C-Span last night. I always thought they were fairly left wing, so I expected it to be a blame Bush fest. Surprised to find it wasn't and they weren't very sympathetic to the Russians. Also in the American Enterprise Institute’s presentation (despite their extreme dislike of the Russians), they convinced me that the Russians had to have been primed and ready to invade and not just to defend in the event of an attack. Also look at how the Russians have constructed their argument to defend Ossetia as the mirror image of Kosovo. They intended this for some time. Actually I think NATO, us, and the EU went too far in pummeling Serbia back then, so maybe this is the payback. I still remember seeing the image out of that missiles nose camera right before it hit a civilian Serb train. We had no business doing that. Still Putin is no sweetheart:

October 2006 - campaigning Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead in Moscow
Sept 2006 - first deputy chairman of Russia's central bank Andrei Kozlov shot dead in Moscow
Oct 2005 - former bank head Alexander Slesarev gunned down near Moscow
July 2004 - US editor of Forbes’ Russian edition Paul Klebnikov shot dead in Moscow
Oct 2002 - Magadan governor Valentin Tsvetkov killed in Moscow
Nov 1998 - liberal MP Galina Starovoitova killed in St Petersburg
March 1995 - leading journalist Vladislav Listyev shot dead in Moscow

I don't know how much responsibility Putin bears for these types of things, but again it doesn't pass the smell test.

48 posted on 08/15/2008 8:56:05 AM PDT by throwback
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard

The author does have lousy taste in women, that’s for sure!!


49 posted on 08/15/2008 8:58:25 AM PDT by chickadee
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To: throwback

Thanks for your thoughtful post. I think there is still a lot to learn for all of us about the past history of the region.

Wikipedia has this overview of the long history between Georgia and South Ossetia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian-Ossetian_conflict

The U. S. seems to have a large share in the responsibility for getting things to this point. It is our money and influence and “military advisors” in the region that have the Russians worried.

This sounds more like South Vietnam than the Sudetenland.


50 posted on 08/15/2008 9:04:31 AM PDT by chickadee
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To: chickadee

“The U. S. seems to have a large share in the responsibility for getting things to this point. It is our money and influence and “military advisors” in the region that have the Russians worried.”

LOL what a tool.


51 posted on 08/15/2008 9:05:38 AM PDT by rbmillerjr (send concerns to Russian Trade Ministry rustrade@verizon.net Hit Russia in wallet....)
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To: chickadee

He’s also a raving moonbat and a fan of Code Pink.

Hardly surprising that he’s towing the Soviet line here.

How’d you come across that article, anyhow?


52 posted on 08/15/2008 9:06:50 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: chickadee
I’ve heard it said that there are three great armies left in the world: U.S., Russia and China - and that they are willing to fight anyone except each other. One would have to presume that is definitely true in this case.

I recall it was snow that beat Napoleon and Hitler, not the Russian Army.

53 posted on 08/15/2008 9:08:50 AM PDT by LoneRangerMassachusetts
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To: chickadee
The answer to that is simple enough. North Ossetians and South Ossetians view themselves as Russians, not Georgians. South Ossetians were living under Georgian rule.

So you admit that the article you posted is a lie - Ossetians consider themselves Russians and don't really have any interest in self-determination or nationhood.

That was, you now admit, all a scam.

I guess we recognize Russia’s right to settle its internal disputes except when we don’t?

That quote from George H.W. Bush was made prior to Russia's recognition of Georgia as a sovereign nation and the USA's recognition of Georgia as a sovereign nation.

By definition, it is no longer an internal dispute.

Oh, what's that?

I can't hear what you're saying when Putin's glans is lodged in the back of your throat like that.

54 posted on 08/15/2008 9:21:56 AM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: chickadee

The “military advisors” might sound more provocative that it actually is. I think one of the head advisors was on the AEI panel. He said they were primarily training the Georgians for the war on terrorism. I think the Georgians only had some 16k full time troops. It wasn’t realistic for them to be training them for a manuever war with a major power. Even now we’re only sending in humanitarian aid to show the flag. I think we’re trying our best not to tweak the Russian’s noses, but they have to stop and get out, and letting these irregulars loose just makes people mad. I think the Bristish turned the Indians loose on the colonies during the revolution and lived to regret that too.


55 posted on 08/15/2008 9:31:11 AM PDT by throwback
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To: dirtboy

My take on it is: the way Russia sees it, their actions are exactly analogous to NATO in Kosovo. They may have a point.


56 posted on 08/15/2008 9:34:30 AM PDT by Dr.Deth
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To: wideawake
Rarely has history repeated itself in such explicit detail.

No kidding. Perhaps for Putin's birthday, the Russian people will buy him a nice dacha at Berchtesgaden.

57 posted on 08/15/2008 9:35:54 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Liberals are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
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To: wideawake
Russian conventional forces wouldn't stand a chance against American armor or US and Israeli airpower.

You know that, I know that, and the Russians know that. Which is why they're very paranoid about any attempt to diminish the effectiveness of their ICBM force. In the event of a conventional war against the US, they would have a choice between going nuclear or surrendering

Given the above, would a US president think it wise to push the Russians against the wall?

It seems like we and the Russians are getting closer to the edge

58 posted on 08/15/2008 9:43:18 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell)
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To: Dr.Deth

Actually, the Soviets and their hard-left allies in America think their actions are exactly analogous to our invasion of Iraq.

They don’t have any point. They’re born liars.


59 posted on 08/15/2008 9:48:03 AM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
They don’t have any point. They’re born liars.

Is that so? They come right out of the womb talking about how important it is to cut back on CO2 emissions?

60 posted on 08/15/2008 10:34:25 AM PDT by Dr.Deth
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