Russia Gives World the Finger
Blake Hounshell, observing that the negotiated Russian withdrawal from Georgia seems not to actually be happening, labels it “The Worst Pullout Ever.” Indeed.
He also includes some photos of “Russian peacekeepers flipping Getty photographer Uriel Sinai the bird.” Here’s one:
That about sums it up.
But Obama has uttered the words for them to leave. Why oh why have the magic ponies not obeyed Obama’s commands to sweep the Russian tanks from the stage. I blame Bush.
Someone needs to call Time Kaine to see if Obama gave them permission to stay.
And McCain said we’re all Georgians now. Jeebus I’ll bet that sent a shiver up Putin’s spine all the way to the tip end of that grunt’s finger.
The Russians seem to care about international opinion about their invasion of Georgia as much as the Chinese do about Tibet and the Americans about Iraq … ie superpowers don’t tend to lose a lot of sleep over that sort of thing.
We need to bomb the commie bastards now! If Georgia goes commie, we could be next!
I think it might be interesting to start taking suggestions for possible explanations for why the Russians are saying one thing, doing another.
Examples:
1. The government has agreed but word hasn’t reached the troops in the field.
2. The government has agreed but the troops in the field don’t care.
3. The government is just pretending to agree.
4. “Oh, you meant that Georgia”.
Other ideas?
5. The Russia army is still trying to figure out who the real President is.
6. The Russian army “withdrew” from Georgia by unilaterally re-drawing Georgia’s borders to exclude Russian occupied areas.
Atlanta is Russian Army free.
Let’s see. This is taking place on Bush’s watch. McCain has actively inserted himself into the situation. But anything that goes wrong is Obama’s fault.
Maybe we can blame Clinton too. And LBJ for that matter…
That’s a really awesome picture.
#6 sounds like a winner to me. Don’t raise the bridge, lower the river.
The finger represents Russia’s understanding of oil as a weapon and how western Europe can do nothing for Georgia or to them.
That seems to be the lesson escaping everyone here. Energy is a weapon in the new war. Why risk troops and spend money on weapons systems when withholding oil or even the threat of withholding oil can do so much.
It’s not just the Russians who figured that out either. Our enemies work the oil weapon whenever possible. It’s not used to destroy us or take our territory but to raid our treasuries. Why take ground by force in a war when you can extract treasure and buy the property?
The sooner we accept energy and more specifically oil as a weapon to be wielded then the sooner we will work to counter by expanding our own energy supplies. In the game of foreign relations we have given advantage to those who oppose us. This is a poor strategy. We can thank everyone from Rachel Carson to Al Gore.
We can also thank Dick Cheney and his friends at Standard Oil, GM, Ford and Exxon who have fought so successfully against alternative energy, higher mileage standards and mass transit…
Unless you mean non-oil energy supplies, or you intend to keep domestic oil off the world markets, I don’t see what expansion will do for us.
so when we use force in Iraq, and tell anyone who does not like it to piss off, we are the good guys, and when Russia uses force and tells anyone who does not like it to piss off they are evil doers.
Am I the only one who thinks this is sort of a comic book view of events? And not a particularly sophisticated comic book…
Anjin-san,
My good friend, the coalition of forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan would not appreciate being ignored. The UN resolutions that preceded our invasion must also count for some world opinion of Saddam’s Iraq and the need for regime change.
Blaming Cheney or for that manner anyone for the lack of progress in alternative energy is wrong. The failures are a result of the difficulty of making alternatives cost efficient. Before we blame Cheney for keeping oil prices low for so many years don’t forget many have already blamed him for making them high. You can’t have it both ways.
It seems you would rather play the blame game than discuss the idea of oil as a modern weapon and how we counter it.
Michael,
Oil cannot be kept off the world market. The commodity is fungible, what we don’t buy others will. Adding to the world supply and minimizing supply disruptions is the benefit. Another benefit is revenue from our own oil and worldwide price reductions.
What percentage of global oil could we realistically produce from increased drilling?
Yes, there would be an increase in collected taxes due to the sale of domestic oil on the world market, with the added benefit of shifting the trade deficit a little. How much of an increase in tax revenue can we realistically expect from increased drilling?
Steve,
A. My post has nothing to do with Afghanistan. Our actions in Afghanistan were justified, and I have supported them vocally since day one.
B. The coalition aspect in Iraq impresses no one. Gulf one had a real coalition. In this case, the most powerful country bullied other nations into making contributions that were for the most part, neglibgle. (England an obvious exception) Are you that taken by the participation of Iceland’s non-existant military?
c. What do you mean by blaming Chaney for keeping prices low? Prices have pretty much gone in one direction under Bush/Chaney/ Up.
D.
This one speaks for itself…
The neo-clowns ignored Russia and others invading Iraq, they can Ignore too. Boil it down to basic facts, from Russias POV, about why Bush et al have zero credibility.
When Russian troops arrive on scene to defend their peace keepers, killing of civilians & troops STOPS in a few days, humanitarian disaster averted.
When US troops arrive un provoked, killing of civilians & troops STARTS, unabated for 5+ years of quagmire occupation, with humanitarian disaster accomplished.
Odd how aid got to Georgia faster than New Orleans, eh? And what about the Iraqis who suffer daily?, where is their on demand airlifted food or meds? and now the DC mafia wants to further REWARD Georgias aggression with 1 BILLION our our tax dollars, while pretending the S. Ossetia victims don’t exist.