Go Ahead John, Say I told You So
In the wake of this crisis, there are the stirrings of a new trans-Atlantic consensus about the way we should approach Russia and its neighbors. The leaders of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia flew to Tbilisi to demonstrate their support for Georgia, and to condemn Russian aggression. The French president traveled to Moscow in an attempt to end the fighting. The British foreign minister hinted of a G-8 without Russia, and the British opposition leader explicitly called for Russia to be suspended from the grouping.
The world has learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. A cease-fire that holds is a vital first step, but only one. With our allies, we now must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to end violence permanently and withdraw its troops from Georgia. International monitors must gain immediate access to war-torn areas in order to avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, and we should ensure that emergency aid lifted by air and sea is delivered.
We should work toward the establishment of an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. This will entail reviewing anew our relations with both Georgia and Russia. As the NATO secretary general has said, Georgia remains in line for alliance membership, and I hope NATO will move ahead with a membership track for both Georgia and Ukraine.
At the same time, we must make clear to Russia’s leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world. The U.S. has cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia, an important step in this direction.
Ed:
McCain gallantly refrains from saying or even hinting, “I told you so,” but he has justification for saying it. He has spoken for years about the gathering danger of an autocratic, corrupt Russia becoming belligerent and strong based on Western financial support. Not even the assassination of an outspoken Putin critic in London woke many up to the nature of the regime in Moscow, nor the oppression of political opposition from Garry Kasparov. Only the tanks rolling toward Tbilisi made McCain’s case clear.
The world remains a dangerous place, and Russia isn’t the worst of the problems we face now. Countries like Iran offer similar regional dangers which could destabilize the entire global systems of trade and diplomacy. Bribing them with financial support without verifying serious political reform only puts us in the position of subsidizing corruption or oppression, and usually both at the same time. Instead of holding photo-op summits as empty substitutes for progress ” as we did with Vladimir Putin for years ” we need to get a lot tougher in dealing with autocrats, mullahcracies, and the like.
Georgia paid the price for our naïveté in dealing with Russia. Who will pay the price if we offer similar fecklessness with Iran in the next four years?
August 14, 2008 - 10:15 AM on August 14th, 2008
I hope the public looks to this incident and realizes that only someone with real foreign policy experience should be commander in chief and leader of the free world. You simply don’t mess around with some of these countries.
Wasn’t Obamas statement weak. One glaring error is that the U.N. security council is NOT going to make a resolution because Russia is on the council. Further, what good is a resolution anyway? Strong arm diplomacy from the white house is what it will take.
Vote McCain.
August 14, 2008 - 10:50 AM on August 14th, 2008
I’m afraid strong-arm diplomacy, without a strong arm, is pretty useless. Right now, our military, while the best in the world and always willing to go into harm’s way, is stretched mighty thin.
NY-David
August 14, 2008 - 01:01 PM on August 14th, 2008
Obama once again rose to the top with his magnificent statesmanship in response to the Georgian problem! He pointed out that the issue is of great concern to the World. Then he said dialogue must be opened between all parties so the issues can be resolved. He further educated us to the realization the both sides, Russia and Georgia, have their particular viewpoints, their own claims and interests. He reminded us that the Russian and Georgians may not always agree perfectly, and this occasion is an example. He was so eloquent on the need to reach understanding and consensus! He was brilliant!
This is change, people! Real change, change we can believe in!
August 14, 2008 - 02:00 PM on August 14th, 2008
McCain’s elequent script in WSJ doesn’t give him the cred to actually pull off anything, foreign policy or otherwise. In the past eight years, Mr. Bus hasn’t exactly raised our status in the world, which is why France was able to go in and we were relegated to sitting on the side lines.
NY-David
August 14, 2008 - 05:21 PM on August 14th, 2008
The current state of or deployment of our forces has little impact on what we can or should do regarding the Georgia issue. What’s going on now is all a bunch of posturing and face saving, in summary bs. There is no way we will ever get into a military confrontation with Russia over Georgia or any former Soviet member.
August 14, 2008 - 11:57 PM on August 14th, 2008
#3…give it up guy.
your charade is lame.
August 15, 2008 - 08:05 AM on August 15th, 2008
I notice there is little discussion about Georgia’s response to the region in their country that wanted to break away.
McCain’s response to foreign relations has traditionally been military. This isn’t what is always needed but it seems to be the only card to be played. Maybe if we were buying gas and oil from Georgia, things would be different.
NY-David
August 17, 2008 - 11:21 AM on August 17th, 2008
LET ME SAY WHO IS LAME, IT’S OBAMA WITH SAYING HIS NO.#1 ADVISOR IS MICHELLE OBAMA AS HIS ANSWER ON THE SADDLEBACK FORUM. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! OF COURSE HE DID MENTION HIS DEAD TYPICAL WHITE GRANDMOTHER, BUT I HAVE MY DOUBTS SHE WILL DO MUCH GOOD NOW.
Let’s just decide while America is still a free country:
DO YOU WANT MICHELLE OBAMA TO RUN THE COUNTRY OR DO YOU WANT JOHN MCCAIN??? How easy is this!!
August 17, 2008 - 07:28 PM on August 17th, 2008
While I really hope this thing doesn’t get any larger, the idea that you can beat military aggression with anything less than military force has been proven to be less than successful far more often than not. At least when dealing with totalitarian regimes. Russia is a totalitarian regime despite having the trappings of being democratic in nature.
The French can go in to try and negotiate a cease fire, because EVERYONE in the world knows that the French are nothing more than appeasers. They lack the power to do anything to anyone save cut off their supply of brie or Dom Perignon and with their history of breaking their own word on embargoes (look at how much illegal French trade went into Iraq under the oil for food program.) any threat they might make isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Dictators will always meet with the useful idiots who come to them with paper and hats in hand, while they themselves are building up their military forces.
This has the potential for devolvement into WWIII and it’s not going to be pretty. Had the Clinton Administration not reduced the size of the military by hundreds of thousands soldiers, this would not be happening. Anyone listening to what Obama is saying could be reasonably expected to see the military to be reduced even further. How else can he implement his stated plan of reducing military spending by reducing funding for new equipment development and/or procurement? He claims that he is going to increase the size of the military, but reduce its funding. Someone want to explain the math on that one?