Aug 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Egging Georgia On
Here’s John McCain, speaking in Georgia, on August 29, 2006:
“I want to express the appreciation of the American people for your service and sacrifice in Iraq. Someday the people of Iraq will know freedom and democracy, and if they do it will be because of your service and sacrifice. Again on behalf of President Bush, the United States Congress and the American people, we thank you; you are America’s best friends.” -declared U.S. Senator.
Addressing the so called frozen conflicts, he said that “Someday the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will also know what it is like to live in a free nation.”
I’m not sure these are really the kinds of friends Georgia’s needed over the past couple of years.
34 Responses to “Egging Georgia On”
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August 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
AFP is reporting: “Moscow says US must choose between Georgia and partnership with Russia.” I guess that means Russia means business?
August 13th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
“Addressing the so called frozen conflicts, he said that “Someday the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will also know what it is like to live in a free nation.”
You heard it here first. McCain’s plan for the future is to invade Georgia, where we will be welcomed in the streets as liberators. Then on to all that sweet sweet Baku oil.
Operation Caucasian Freedom here we come!
(What do you mean Baku is not in Georgia? They’re all basically the same country.)
August 13th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Obama is presumptuous and arrogant.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Wait, so does McCain support Georgia or independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia? Because South Ossetia wanting to be an independent state is kind of what got this whole thing started.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Another AFP report: “The Pentagon strongly denied Wednesday that the US military intends to take over control of Georgia’s seaports and airports as suggested by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.”
Looks like Saakashvili is a little confused here.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I don’t Matt, what kind did they need? The kind that said “suck up to Russia, the rest of the world doesn’t care about you?
I love the way Matt objects to any American intervention anywhere, but sees other interventions by other powers as completely natural. If there’s thinking going on at ThinkProgress, it’s not obvious.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Does that mean Senator McCain support Abkhazia and South Ossetia in their bid for freedom? He does realize that it is Georgia that is denying them their freedom right?
August 13th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Abkhazia and South Ossetia speak their own language. They don’t want to be part of Georgia. I have yet to see anyone tell me what is different about this than our support for Kosovo’s independence.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
The problem is that they want to be independent, and join a sham Democracy rather than be an oppressed minority in a Democratic state. Sometimes, from up here on a high white horse, things can look pretty confusing.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
This is exactly what I have been saying the last couple of days. Georgia was egged on to send troops into the disputed areas administered by Russia. That the responded is no surprise. An unintended consequence I can see evolving from this short-sighted egging on of Georgia is for Russia to do something regarding Cuba. We have no vital interests in Georgia so I see no reason to risk some rather undesirable consequences by poking Russia in the eye in this manner. Another stupid blunder by Bush comes as no surprise though.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
This conflict is eerily reminiscent of Reagan’s invasion of Grenada. The same dynamics are involved. In the case of Grenada, it was a lefty autocrat, whose vanity had been pumped up by praise from the tourist left, always looking for plucky third world resistors, so that he actually thought he could defy the U.S. Which quickly trumped up a reason for invading and kicking him out.
Although the ideology has reversed, it is still the same story of vanity and proxy revolutionaries – this time on the right. Another poppycock autocrat. Another eager and vain recipient of the praise of an international cohort of blowhards, this time neo-cons, experts only in their own refined sense of morality. And the same nutty underestimation of what it means to live in the shadow of a much, much stronger power.
Maybe “we are all Georgians, now” and “the people united will never be defeated” can be mashed together in some excellent hip hop.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
If anybody believes Georgia was “egged on” to attack Ossetia, let them provide the evidence. So far I’ve seen none.
What IS being reported is that Georgia has been flooded with military arms and advisers from the US and Israel for some time now, with Georgia’s motivations clearly being what they apparently attempted to do – ethnically cleanse South Ossetia and possibly later Abkhaz.
The motivation for the US, if not Israel, is apparently to get Georgia into NATO. By getting Georgia stomped by Russia, the idea is to get Georgia the “sympathy vote” in Europe. Naturally, the Europeans don’t see it that way, which is why they refused to admit Georgia into NATO in the last meeting. The next meeting on this topic is in December – we’ll see if US pressure can change Germany and France’s mind on the issue.
BTW, the motivation for Israel appears to be both arms sales and, if Georgia can be handled right, oil to Israel. This is on a par with Israel’s support for the Kurds in Iraq, which is motivated by a desire both to screw Iran and get an oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Haifa.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
BTW, in my first sentence above, I am referring specifically to Russia’s “egging on” Georgia – for which I’ve seen no evidence.
Certainly the US has been egging on Georgia, although allegedly elements in the US have been warning Saakashvili not to go too far.
For more details on the background to this, read this piece:
Russia marks its red lines
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH13Ag05.html
December 13th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
BELLEVILLE — About a dozen metro-east Chamorro people who have roots in Guam gathered Tuesday night to honor World War II veteran Otto Wehmeyer and show their appreciation to the 87-year-old Belleville man who helped liberate their people
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