Drive-By Commentary on Georgia v. Russia

I’m not fully coming out of hiatus, but those who regularly read this space have just got to know that I would have to put a few things on the table regarding the Georgia-Russia flare up. Here are some quick bullet points:

Georgia fucked with the bull, and it got the horns. Unfortunate, but predictable, and they were foolish to seek this kind of conflict.

Georgia was especially foolish if they expected American military aid in this debacle. America isn’t going to take on the Russian Bear, it only attacks small countries that can’t defend themselves. With rare exception Europe does little more than watch approvingly.

American and generally Western anti-Russian rhetoric will amount to little more than bluster. There is little “punishment” of any consequence that the U.S. or E.U. can feasibly inflict on Putin at this point, especially as he is a major supplier to E.U. petrol. Money talks, bullshit walks.

On the independence of South Ossetia I remain neutral. The bleating of self-congratulatory liberal “internationalists” and neocons notwithstanding, the inevitable fallouts and persistent turmoil in former Soviet satellite states is of no legitimate national security concern to us. In other words, it’s none of our damn business. I do, however, enjoy watching those who tub-thumped for Kosovo independence and bombing of Serbia tie themselves in knots trying to rationalize away the obvious hypocrisy.

That is all.

UPDATE: I mean, seriously guys, we gotta think of something to punish Putin. There has to be material consequences to this sort of action. It’s not like the United States would ever invade a small, militarily weak country with no realistic chance of defending itself against our superior military on what could charitably be called “faulty pretexts”…oh wait.

HAHAHAHAHA DISREGARD THAT LAST STATEMENT; I SUCK COCKS!!!

UPDATE II: Okay, I can see that the little bubble of self-congratulation the West has blown for itself since the fall of the USSR could stand a little more poking. “New Age of Authoritarianism”, really Mr. Keller? Both Russia and China have come a long way from their mid-20th. century incarnations, which were Stalin and the Cultural Revolution, for those who are interested. This overall trend still holds even when we concede, for the sake of argument, that the kleptocracy conducted by Yeltsin and the Oligarchs constituted anything but another incarnation of authoritarianism. Meanwhile, in the U.S. the national-security state has reached previously inconceivable heights and our Constitutional law is increasingly being looked at as a set of purely discretionary guidelines. Let’s not get too fucking holier than thou on our Eastern rivals. I’m just not motivated to join into the chorus of Russo-sinophobia gripping the Western media right now. The only thing that is different now from 15 years ago is that neither Russia nor China is a pushover for the dictates of the Western powers. How does that shoe feel on the other foot?

UPDATE III: Something to think about…

Of course, a mirror-image situation exists in Russia, which has asserted that up to 1500 people have been killed by Georgian forces in South Ossetia as part of an alleged ethnic cleansing operation, and where the media have been largely quiet on the air bombing of the Gori apartment blocks. In the rare event that these reports have appeared on the Russian news (just as a minority of US shows, like Countdown with Keith Olbermann, have reported on Georgian attacks in Ossetia) they remained in the distinct minority. But it is notable that much of this selective coverage has been down to government censorship, with journalists who had been reporting on the sorties, like Russia today’s William Dunbar, being taken off the air.

What is troubling is the US media’s willingness to similarly tow the party line, but in the absence of any of the coercive measures, such as the state censorship, that the Russian press endures. There have been no William Dunbars on CNN, despite the fact that every report I’ve seen on the channel yesterday had been framed as “Russian invasion”, with endless clips of Saakashvili alleging Russian crimes etc, in a loop of totally pro-Georgian coverage. Georgia is a key US ally, the 3rd largest troop contingent in Iraq, and occupies a strategic, oil rich zone. The self-policing in the US media, which has basically been uncritically promoting government talking points, is very disturbing.

UPDATE IV: Am I right or what?