5 Comments

Worse yet. Bush’s full quote from 2001, according to the BBC was “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1392791.stm)

The looking-in-the-eyes part is the sort of malarky any Texan could likely fall for. The soul business, though, is that extra-special awfulness we get from Bush: spirtual hokum informing bad policy. Imagine the soul of a KBG man!

Agreed. However, let’s broaden this a little bit. It is fair to question what kind of fool Saakashvili is to so blatantly antagonize the Russians in this way: seeking to reestablish control over South Ossetia. Clearly, the Russians were waiting for an opportunity to undermine Saakashvili (hardly an unblemished figure). But they still needed an excuse. Saakashvili provided it. Perhaps he expected the US or NATO or EU to come to his rescue, but if that’s true, it is incredibly naive.

Has the United States reached Richard Nixon’s apotheosis: “a pitiful, helpless giant”? George Bush more worried about patting female volleyballers on their butts for good luck than standing up to Putin? General Electric installing 300,000 closed circuit cameras in Beijing? 2,008 drummers being directed to smile during the opening Nurembergershow, lest they appear as threatening as they are? Gail Collins in “The Times” talking about Grover Cleveland’s screwing around and cancer survivor Cokie Roberts on “This Week” telling is that Charles Pinckney procured prostitutes for John Adams, both rationalizing the streaming chutzpah of John Edwards? From Bush to Brokaw, our vain, trivia preening elites make Marie Antoinette, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Neville Chamberlain appear to be avatars of insight by comparison. Will their own Christ Obama turn on them and save us?

Interesting the knee-jerk response from Western pundits and politicians to condemn Russia as the “aggressor”, even though it was Georgia that first sent troops into South Ossetia.

Furthermore, the West’s own precipitous recognition of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo provides exactly the justification Russia needs for its claims to South Ossetia. If ethnic Albanians in the heartland of Serbia are justified in declaring independence and having it recognized by the West, then why are the Russians in South Ossetia not allowed to declare their independence from Georgian rule? I’m afraid the West’s handling of all these matters looks to be motivated by little more than simplistic anti-Orthodoxy and anti-Russianism, and will lead to yet more ethnic conflicts and breakaway provinces in the future. Sensible people knew that nothing good would come of the West’s adventures in Kosovo, despite all the shallow paens to “self-determination” and “democracy”, and now the blowback from Kosovo is beginning to slap the West in the face.

Ron, I would be interested in your view of Obama’s strength and resolve against Putin. I don’t think that Vegas would even open an line on it. For all his fine qualities, Obama seems to lack the presence of a fighter.

I suppose that’s not all bad, but against Putin, it is.