from http://www.breadwithcircus.com/
As the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games began in Beijing, Georgian President Mikhail Sakashvilli, shown here eating his tie, decided that it would be a good idea to invade the de-facto independent, breakaway republic of South Ossetia. The Georgians laid waste to the regional capital of Tskhinvali, wiping out an estimated 1500 civilians the first night of the attack. I suppose that Sakashvilli figured that with all eyes on the Bird’s Nest, (and words of encouragement from Washington) the rest of the world would be too busy to respond. To be fair, there had been trouble brewing in the region in the previous months, and South Ossetian irregulars had probably been responsible for provocative attacks on Georgia in the weeks leading up to the start of the war. However, the Neo-conservatives advising Sakashvilli failed to notice something important, namely that South Ossetia was full of Russians, and Russia is not a toothless backwater like Iraq. Their mission was not accomplished. The Russian military took delight in reminding the world that they are not to be trifled with. Russia sent armoured columns over the Georgian border, wiping out the Georgian forces that took part in the attack on Tskhinvali. Russia then used its air force to bomb the crap out of much of Georgia’s infrastructure.
The Russian response accomplished a few things. First, they pretty much said “We’re back” as they stomped over the Georgians. Second, they showed other former Soviet republics like the Ukraine what might happen to them if they get on Moscow’s bad side. Third, they suggested to Western oil companies that you shouldn’t cut Moscow out of the deal when you build a pipeline in Russia’s traditional “sphere of influence.” (BP’s Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan route bypasses Russia) Fourth, with a great degree of schadenfreude, they showed the world that America is no longer able to back its petty allies and intervene in regional conflicts, given that its military is busy getting low-income kids blown up
in the effort to privatize Iraq.
Russia has now recognized the former Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. Do you remember when Western countries recognized the independence of Kosovo this spring? This was yet another massive strategic blunder by the West, overturning decades of international law and setting a precedent that will lead to many regional wars. Let’s review.
Kosovo was a breakaway region of a fractured state (Serbia) populated mostly by an ethnic group from a neighbouring country, Albania. Kosovo had been the target of an ethnic cleansing campaign by Serbia before a foreign force (NATO) intervened militarily to protect the people of Kosovo, who then declared de-facto independence.
The Americans and Georgians will tell you that this is totally different from what happened this summer in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of a fractured state (Georgia) populated mostly by an ethnic group from a neighbouring country, Russia. South Ossetia had been the target of an ethnic cleansing campaign by Georgia before a foreign force (Russia) intervened militarily to protect the people of South Ossetia, who then declared de-facto independence.
You can see the tit for tat. This is where we are now. The West is threatening to cut Russia out of various trade deals, impose sanctions and…I’m not sure what else, maybe sending Putin a stern letter expressing how very disappointed we are in him. The reality is that the American unipolar world is over. We have a new world order, and unfortunately, it looks a little bit like the world did about one hundred years ago, just before the outbreak of World War One. People really ought to read history. This is what you get when you
have a crusading country running around the world toppling governments in order to make the world safe for democracy. (Ideology does not apply when dealing with Saudi Arabia) Good luck to all of us, we may need it because given the state of the US economy, I’d bet that the next American president will decide that increasing tensions with Russia is a good strategy for keeping people distracted. Cold War Two makes for a compelling Circus.