Aug 13th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Saakashvili Calls McCain’s Bluff
Don’t tell Jon Chait, but it looks like Mikhail Saakashvili thought it meant something when John McCain proclaimed America and Georgia to be identical:
“Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, ‘We are all Georgians now,’” Saakashvili said on CNN’s American Morning. “Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it’s time to pass from this. From words to deeds.”
People sometimes mock the idea of “diplomatic language” but, obviously, when it comes to national security you need to choose your words carefully.
47 Responses to “Saakashvili Calls McCain’s Bluff”
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August 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
But, but, works are deeds, aren’t they?
August 13th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Oh, that puts a smile on my face. I think that that’s Georgian for ‘Put a sock in it, you posturing ninny.’
August 13th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Words, not works I mean. Who knew this diplomatin’ stuff requires more than spell checking?
August 13th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Saakashvili should be Americanized enough to realize that McCain is a Senator and has ZERO to do with deeds. Saakashvili should know that the only man who can do any deed is Bush, and he demonstrated his concern for the situation by staying in Beijing while Georgia burned.
Hows that for a deed?
August 13th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Well, I _am_ a Georgian, and I encourage all of you to come visit our fantastic Georgia Aquarium and maybe see the new World of Coca-Cola while you’re in town. If I’m free, I’ll be happy to have a beer with you in East Atlanta.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Mikhail: So, John– when are you gonna start shootin’ some Russians?
August 13th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hilarious.
Also, Matt, could you please fix MatthewYglesias.com so it redirects to this site, not the old Atlantic site.
I know you said you were going to do it, but it is time to move from words to deeds.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:16 am
It seems to me that McCain would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Well, I _am_ a Georgian, and I encourage all of you to come visit our fantastic Georgia Aquarium
Keep going with those–I hear there’s a special prize for the millionth commenter who makes a “state of Georgia/nation of Georgia” joke.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
NPR ran a story on McCain’s Georgia statements that contained zero by way of critical analysis. Worse, though, Obama wasn’t mentioned once, and I worry that though he might be right to keep out of it, his silence seems to feed into the absurd “Republicans are stronger on foreign relations” trope.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Last month, St. John said:
He must’ve misheard his hero’s dictum as, “Speak loudly and carry a wet noodle.”
August 13th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I hear there’s a special prize for the millionth commenter who makes a “state of Georgia/nation of Georgia” joke.
However, entries only valid if they meet or exceed the base McCartney wit level: “That Georgia’s always on my mind”
August 13th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Has anyone else heard pundits blather about how presumptuous and arrogant McCain is for face-planting into this and claiming he “speaks for all Americans?”
No, I guess it’s much more arrogant for Obama to give a speech in front of Germans.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Are we elligible for the prize if we claim to be a building, broader than it is deep, with a large number of lattice windows symmetrically arranged around a single elaborate doorway?
August 13th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Shaak is saying what he needs to say, and as usual doing it pretty well. But honestly, folks, anyone anywhere who thought we would go to war with Russia in the Caucasus, much less on the basis of some politician’s rhetoric, is living in a fool’s paradise.
Bush just announced Condi Rice, ships, and a C-17 already in the air loaded with “humanitarian supplies” are on the way to Georgia, and denounced Russia’s apparent cease-fire violation of moving an armored column south of Gori essentially cutting Georgia in half. If we get shot at, then we’ll all be Georgians.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Obama should make an ad with McCain’s comment, the Georgian response, and then some snappy and obnoxious comment about how we need a leader (and not a celebrity) who offers more than just words, nice though words can be. The irony would be delicious, but I suppose McCain, in a further irony, would accuse Obama of playing politics with national security. This would get us to a level of ridiculousness I would find heavenly, but perhaps it is slightly blasphemous to enjoy the absurdity revealed by a real life invasion.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Doesn’t Saakashvili understand that words of encouragement from a straight-talking maverick like Senator John McCain are worth any number of Russian tank columns?
August 13th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Saakashvili’s a New York lawyer, so he knows how to interpret a contract in the most useful way possible. Even a verbal contract.
Looks like Honest John’s now on the hook to send Chuck Norris over to kick the shit out of a Russian armored regiment or two. An ELITE armored regiment, of course. Anything less would not be a worthy opponent.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Saakashvili is Chalabi on steroids. Fear him and don’t ever take your eyes off of him. He will be pulling out all the propaganda stops to get the sick warmonger McCain into the oval office.
Did any fact check that Russian tanks are still in Gori?
Can the ethnic cleansing claim be validated?
See. Saakashvili is good, he plays the west like a fiddle.
I see AP is eating his slop like a good pig.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
We should stop calling that beknighted country “Georgia” and start calling it “Sakartvelo” or “Gruziya” in order to stop the “joking about AMerican ignorance of Georgraphy” insanity.
August 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I’m a Virginian, anyway.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Did you know that Georgia’s Defense Minister is 29 years old? Damn.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
And wasn’t Rove vacationing on a “Black Sea resort” last week, as an excuse to avoid showing up before Congress? Did he meet with Saakashvili and make any promises?
August 13th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
So you think Obama’s call for UN Security Council action (given Russia’s veto) is useful? Both candidates are posturing on this, but at least McCain’s posturing is connected to Georgia’s help in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama’s response translates to “go suck on eggs”
August 13th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
waaah? you mean you want neocons to actually stand behind their words with deeds? c’mon… stop it… you’re killing me…
August 13th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Is that really the best you got? At worst, trying to work through the UNSC is a waste of time. At best, since Russia is there, it allows us and our allies to negotiate with Russia directly. McCain’s stance, meanwhile, only serves to give the Georgian leadership false hope, which means they can act on that false hope in self-destructive ways.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
WHEN WE SAY SAAKASHVILI, WE MEAN MCCAIN
Republican Party neo-cons ordered Georgia to start the war Author: Sergei Markov, director, Political Studies Institute
Neo-conservatives in the Bush Administration and John McCain’s campaign team have decided to arrange a virtual Cold War between the West and Russia. Thousands of Ossetians, along with dozens of Russians and Georgians, have already sacrificed their lives on the altar of McCain’s election campaign.
The neo-cons will make Saakashvili throw the Georgians into the furnace of McCain’s election campaign, but they seem to be promising that after the victory, the USA will help him establish full control over Abkhazia and Ossetia, and remain in power for a long time as president of Georgia. And Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will take Ukraine to the brink of a split – apparently in exchange for promises to admit Ukraine into NATO and support widespread repression against Russians in Ukraine.
Some may read this article and call it a conspiracy theory. Yes, there is a conspiracy. It’s a conspiracy by the neo-cons with the aim of retaining their control over the world’s leading country and carrying out their plan to establish global hegemony; they make no secret of this. The neo-cons regard Obama as weak – incapable of establishing American hegemony worldwide, and thus a potential traitor to US national interests. So anything goes in their battle against Obama – up to and including a Cold War with a nuclear-armed Russia.
Everyone remembers the huge international media campaign launched by the neo-cons in the lead-up to the war in Iraq. Now the neo-cons are launching a similar campaign against Russia in the international media and the United Nations. The aim of the media campaign surrounding South Ossetia is to start a new pseudo-Cold War with Russia.
The European Union is our potential ally in this political battle, since it has no interest in a new Cold War with Russia or a victory for the miltarist neo-cons; President McCain would mean a de facto third term for Bush. Another potential ally for Russia is public opinion in the United States; most American voters hate the neo-cons and their high-risk military adventures, and want them out of power. Dick Cheney is America’s most hated politician. Thousands of Ossetians, along with dozens of Russians and Georgians, have already sacrificed their lives on the altar of McCain’s election campaign – following hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. We must not allow Cheney and McCain to kill thousands more Ukrainians and Russians. Europe must use its combined efforts to stop the mad neo-cons and prevent them from plunging our continent into a new Cold War.
Everyone has been asking why the war started on the first day of the Olympic Games. There’s a simple explanation for that. The order to start the war didn’t come from Saakashvili, whose attitude to China is neutral or positive. It came from Cheney and the neo-cons, who hate China: thus, they also disrupted the media’s celebration of the Beijing Olympics.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Robertson is a moron: “So you think Obama’s call for UN Security Council action (given Russia’s veto) is useful?”
Did he bother to check that Russia approached the UNSC at the start of the conflict for a ceasefire resolution? The US wasn’t interested.
The end of the post-Cold War era
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH13Ag02.html
It was RUSSIA who called the first emergency meeting of the UNSC – not the US:
http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7HBP55?OpenDocument
It was the US who sabotaged the UNSC in this matter. Not Russia.
Get a clue, Robertson.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:37 am
i hear you folks , most of you are engaged in russian propaganda, be aware, putin will get you all…
September 24th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Well I’m Georgian and I can firmly say that Saakashvili never made any remarks like the ones stated in this Blog. He was very grateful for support and basically that’s all that he was asking…
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-65820#
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