Russia has Georgia on its mind

By David Farside

E-mail: farsidian2001@yahoo.com
Website: www.thefarsidechronicles.com

The Russian bear has decided to forget about political hibernation and poked its military head in the face of Bush politics. Leaving President Bush in a powerless position, Russia attacked its old territory of Georgia. They warned the rest of the region to be careful about their western alliances and specifically threatened Poland with a nuclear attack.

It all started when Georgia supported the two small Georgian provinces of Abkhazie and South Ossetia in their attempt to break away from communistic rule. It escalated when Poland agreed to house a battery of U.S. missile interceptors in Poland. Small skirmishes broke out and Russia took advantage of the situation using military force to invade Georgia and protect its territory. It also demonstrated to Poland what could happen if it helps the United States with its continued intimidation of Russia.

Since then, political rhetoric has taken the front stage. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice called for the “immediate and orderly withdrawal” of Russian troops from the area. We know that will never happen.

During a press conference, Bush, using the full capacity of his limited brain and wearing the usual silly smirk on his face, declared, “The Cold War is over.” While Bush thinks the Russian invasion of Georgia ends the Cold War, most of the world thinks the invasion restarted the Cold War. Maybe he plans on starting a real hot war before he leaves office.

He also chastised Russia for invading a sovereign country, tearing down its infrastructure and killing innocent civilians. He said Russia would lack credibility as a world leader and lose the respect of most of the world if the invasion continued. Strange. Bush could have been talking about himself when he started the Iraq occupation.

When we invaded Iraq, the rest of the world was asking for an orderly withdrawal of our troops. We invaded a sovereign country, destroyed its infrastructure and killed thousands of its civilian men, women and children. And we have definitely lost our credibility as a world leader. But that’s OK. We did it to protect our pristine Christian and democratic values, which include invasion, occupation and the murder of anyone who gets in our way. How can we, in all honesty, criticize Russia for doing the same thing we are doing in Iraq?

Then Bush makes another idiotic comment. He said, “Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.” Why not Bush?

We invaded Granada. We bullied our way into the sovereignty of Panama and kidnapped its president. We were instrumental in stealing Palestinian land and giving it to the Jews for their new settlements and bullied our way into the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Bush is the last one who should be chewing on the bear’s ear for their actions in Georgia.

Russia has been unusually clear about its position. Gen. Anatoly Nogiviysyn, one of Russia’s top officers, told Bush and the western world exactly where they stand regarding Poland. He said that by Poland agreeing to accept the battery of missiles from the United States, it does so at the risk of attack – and not just a typical ground and air assault, but “perhaps with nuclear weapons.” I wonder what Bush thinks about that. Sounds like Russia has a nutcase in its top command similar to our own commander-in-chief.

Another issue at stake is Iran. The Kremlin warned Bush that if the missiles are place in Poland it could halt cooperation with the west in its efforts to halt nuclear operations in the democratic state of Iran.

So far, Poland and Bush are not backing down from their saber-rattling and Russian threats. Officials from both sides say they are going to stick to the deal signed last Thursday, regardless of Russia’s nuclear threats. Sounds like trouble to me – trouble for Bush, that is.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Russia flex a little more muscle. With the aging Fidel Castro no longer in power and the Cuban government’s resentment toward the United States, maybe Russia will sign a missile agreement with Cuba similar to the one the United States has with Poland. And unlike the 1962 agreement to dismantle the missiles in Cuba , this time the United States will have to live with it.