Will Obama CHANGE all of this????
Jim "It is a few individual 'jerks' that are the cause of these
problems. - the corporate capitalist system doe not need to be CHANGED" D.
----- Original Message -----
From: "CraigGingold" <gingold@xxxxxxx>
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<Freekpfk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <fulcrumsofchange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <forum@xxxxxxxx>; <news@xxxxxxxx>; <morningshow@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2008 2:48 AM
Subject: [Fulcrumsofchange] Georgia's Recklessness (op-ed)
> It's encouraging to see that we're not entirely alone. This guy
> turns out to be the director of the Nixon Center, of all things --
> a conservative, for sure, but a realist whose prime concern is
> the implications of this debacle for American power. Even so,
> given the lazy acceptance of Bush/neo-con spin throughout
> most of the news media, it's important that strongly dissenting
> views like this are seeing the light of day in such a key paper. - CG
> __________________
>
> The Washington Post
>
> Georgia's Recklessness
>
> By Paul J. Saunders
> Friday, August 15, 2008; A21
>
> The fates of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are chief among the many issues
> that are
> still unresolved in the war between Georgia and Russia. What's clear,
> however, is
> that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered his country's military
> to
> assert his authority over South Ossetia by force. American officials
> should
> reflect on the implications of Saakashvili's behavior for U.S. policy
> toward
> Georgia, Russia and the region.
>
> Saakashvili ordered the assault last week knowing that South Ossetia would
> resist, knowing that his forces would have to take on Russian peacekeepers
> and
> knowing that Moscow has been spoiling for a fight. In fact, his own
> government
> had claimed for some time that Russia was preparing to attack.
>
> Georgia's president clearly thought that his troops could quickly occupy
> South
> Ossetia and that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister
> Vladimir
> Putin would not dare to intervene because doing so might provoke the West,
> especially the United States. A similar logic underlies Tbilisi's
> long-term
> foreign policy calculations. Throughout history, weak nations with
> powerful
> neighbors have energetically sought strong allies. Serbia enlisted Russian
> support against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for example, and Poland
> turned to
> Britain to deter Nazi Germany.
>
> Saakashvili has embraced this tried-and-true strategy with gusto, sending
> a
> substantial share of the country's small army to Iraq (from which its
> troops were
> understandably recalled in recent days) and parroting Bush administration
> talking
> points on international issues -- especially on promoting democracy --
> more than
> almost any other leader worldwide.
>
> Ultimately, however, it wouldn't matter to Georgia's president whether the
> United
> States was a democracy, a theocracy or ruled by Martians so long as he
> could use
> Washington to change the dynamics of Georgian-Russian relations.
>
> Saakashvili's recent statements demonstrate how well he has learned to
> push
> America's buttons, probably with the help of his government's lobbyists in
> Washington. In several interviews and articles, including an op-ed in
> yesterday's
> Post, he has compared the recent Russian attack on Georgia to the Soviet
> invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. He has also invoked
> former
> president Ronald Reagan and tried to frame the war as a Russian assault on
> Western values. "We are attacked because we wanted to be free," he said on
> CNN.
>
> But the situation inside Georgia belies Saakashvili's rhetorical
> commitment to
> freedom. Most glaring was his handling of opposition protests last fall.
> The
> State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report, released just a few months
> ago,
> found "serious problems" with Georgia's human rights record and notes
> "excessive
> use of force to disperse demonstrations"; "impunity of police officers";
> and
> declining respect for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of
> assembly and political participation. Ana Dolidze, a democracy advocate
> and
> former chair of Georgia's Young Lawyers Association, has described in
> detail how
> Saakashvili acted quickly after entering office to empower the executive
> branch
> at the expense of parliament and to strengthen the government by "stifling
> political expression, pressuring influential media and targeting vocal
> critics
> and opposition leaders" -- including by using law enforcement agencies.
> Saakashvili is far from the morally pure democrat he would have the West
> believe
> he is.
>
> Georgia's internal realities help make clear that the fighting erupted not
> primarily because of what the country represents but because of its
> government's
> actions. Tbilisi could have avoided the confrontation by deferring its
> ambitions
> to subjugate South Ossetia and pursuing them through strictly peaceful
> means.
>
> Few seem to remember that the United States and Russia worked together
> with the
> Georgian opposition to ease out then-Georgian President Eduard
> Shevardnadze and
> facilitate the election that ultimately brought Saakashvili into office.
> Russian
> views of Saakashvili changed over the past five years as Moscow perceived
> Tbilisi
> to become increasingly hostile and watched Saakashvili use threats of
> force to
> topple the government of another autonomous region, Ajaria, in 2004.
>
> None of this justifies Russia's actions. But even if Moscow had been lying
> in
> wait for Saakashvili to provide an excuse to act, it was all the more
> foolish for
> him to do so. Regrettably, the Georgian leader has allowed Moscow to
> demonstrate
> quite clearly the limits of American interests in Russia's immediate
> neighborhood. The Kremlin has much more at stake there than Washington and
> is
> willing to act decisively and with overwhelming force. Recognizing the
> potential
> global consequences of a serious break with Russia, America has not been
> willing
> to do more than provide humanitarian relief, pointedly state that U.S.
> forces
> would not protect the Georgian ports and airfields where the aid is to
> arrive,
> and dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the scene.
>
> Allowing the graphic exposure of these realities is a major failure of
> U.S.
> policy that will undermine American objectives throughout the region. One
> hopes
> that in private, the Bush administration is clearly communicating to
> Moscow that
> whatever Saakashvili's failings, the United States will not tolerate his
> removal
> by force -- and telling the Georgian government that America doesn't need
> reckless friends.
>
> The writer, executive director of the Nixon Center, served as senior
> adviser to
> the Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs from 2003 to
> 2005.
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
> dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403053.html
>
> ==========================================================
>
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