U.S.-allied Georgia called a unilateral cease-fire — “We are not crazy,” said President Mikhail Saakashvili — and claimed its troops were retreating Sunday from the disputed province of South Ossetia in the face of Russia’s far superior firepower. Russia said the soldiers were “not withdrawing but regrouping” and refused to recognize a truce.
The tactical reality is completely besides the point, actually. The Georgia adventure will always be remembered as Putin’s Grenada: An opportunity to rationalize a strategically meaningful, but far more symbolically significant, local annoyance into a mismatched demonstration of new resolve, a shaking off of reluctance to utilize force, and an opportunity for cheaply-bought national pride. For Putin, it is all that and more, seeing as how his project is so essentially revanchiste, and the ongoing existence of Georgia both as an independent state and a putative American ally is an ongoing poke in the eye to his neostalinist dreams.
Roger Kimball’s article (via Instapundit) comparing the McCain and Obama statements on the situation also demonstrates nicely how, like the Grenada invasion, the Putin war on Georgia has the quality of distilling a wide range of political and moral realities. So many Cold War moments do.
Cross-posted on Likelihood of Success.
{ 19 comments }
its all great lie!
in South Osetia 90% russian peaple and russian Citizenship, "Saкаshvili" attacked Russian population and Russian peacemakers, having initiated war with Russia. Also not be fools – have boldness to recognize, that all this on a hand of the USA.
 Your will receive lie from your management and mass-media because all this for a long time is planned  the USA.
STOP THE LIE & STOP SUPPORT WAR between Georgia and Russia.
Or hebrew and american warrior kicked up to ass, if intervented to Russia…
Not as the insult, and a reminder!
War in Georgia has begun at Bush’s support. It has specified Saakashvilli, and that of the beginnings ethnic cleanings in South Ossetia where 90 % of the population are citizens of Russia. Russia has been compelled to protect own citizens.
wow, the russian spammers showed up quick didn’t they?
RyanR’s last blog post..Faces of Math
Well, all they had to do was follow the breadcrumbs from my spam inbox…
Ron Coleman’s last blog post..With donations like that?
Note that as of the last reliable census (1989) 10% of the population of South Ossetia was ethnic Russian, 40% was Georgian, and 40% was Ossetian with another 10% something else. Total population less than 150,000.  That’s a Soviet census so if your Russian commenter don’t like it they have mostly themselves to blame.
More recent estimate of the population put it under 100,000. Yes, Russia has extended passports to the people of South Ossetia. However, Russia has neither recognized the Republic of South Ossetia nor claimed it as their own. Bit of a mixed signal there.
I’m not sure how you get to 90% Russian that way.
I’m with the Russians on this one. The Russians are one of the world’s great peoples, and I cannot get loose from my long memory that winning World War II against the nazi hitlerites of Germany happened largely because that great Russian nation absorbed the cost of the war upon their own land and on their own bodies. That most of western civilization was spared the cost and horrors of nazi rule was because millions of Russians, ordinary and well as extraordinary, laid down their lives in the greatest military struggle in history.
Any of you want to argue about this? You’re welcome to try.
In any case, I’m glad Great Russia is standing up again after so many years of putting their affairs in order following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Ossetins have as much right to pull loose from Gruzia as the latter had to pull loose from Russia. Or that the Albanci of Kosova had to secede from Serbia.
Great Russia always has been the protector of the peace of the small Caucasus nations. That’s what the Ossetins, Armenians and others would tell you. And I for one will say this trouble in Gruzia would not have happened had the Bush administration avoided the temptation to meddle in the affairs of these small Caucasus nations and thus give the ruler of Gruzia big ideas of being the next Ukraine or Bielorus.
"NATO" indeed! Where exactly does the North Atlantic end? Britain and Ireland? Germany? Poland? Transcaucasia? How will it sound to most Americans one day if Russia uses the same tactics with us, and starts putting russian military bases back up in Cuba, which is no less on our doorstep than the nations of the Caucasus are to them?
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
ArnoldHarris – thanks!
- i’m not spammer = you see – we all need see the truth…
WAR -Â Nobody is necessary!
Грузины обÑтрелÑли беженцев из "Града"
Ð’ Цхинвали утверждают, что грузинÑкие военные обÑтрелÑли из уÑтановок залпового Ð¾Ð³Ð½Ñ "Град" дорогу, по которой ÑвакуируютÑÑ Ð±ÐµÐ¶ÐµÐ½Ñ†Ñ‹. Об Ñтом Ñообщил глава югооÑетинÑкого МИД Мурат Джиоев. Он добавил, что обÑтрелы продолжаютÑÑ Ð² течение неÑкольких дней [...]
ЗверÑтва грузинÑкого Ñпецназа
Ð’ Южной ОÑетии во Ð²Ñ€ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð°ÐºÑ†Ð¸Ð¸ Ñо Ñтороны Грузии Ñожжена церковь, в которой укрылиÑÑŒ женщины и дети. ГрузинÑкие танки ÑравнÑли Ñ Ð·ÐµÐ¼Ð»ÐµÐ¹ мемориальное кладбище в Цхинвали и разрушили правоÑлавный храм на его территории. ГрузинÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ñторона взорвала КехвÑкий водоканал, в результате затоплены подвалы домов, где укрывалиÑÑŒ от бомбардировок мирные жители [...]
ÐкÑперт: грузинÑкую армию 10 лет тренировали американÑкие инÑтрукторы
Западные СМИ ÑÐµÐ¹Ñ‡Ð°Ñ Ð°Ð½Ð°Ð»Ð¸Ð·Ð¸Ñ€ÑƒÑŽÑ‚ конфликт в Южной ОÑетии. БританÑÐºÐ°Ñ The Telegraph Ñоветует читателÑм не обманыватьÑÑ Ð¸ не воÑпринимать ÑÐ¾Ð±Ñ‹Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð² Южной ОÑетии как "нападение РоÑÑии на маленькую отважную грузинÑкую демократию". БританÑкий военный аналитик отметил, что роÑÑийÑким войÑкам противоÑтоит хорошо Ð²Ð¾Ð¾Ñ€ÑƒÐ¶ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð³Ñ€ÑƒÐ·Ð¸Ð½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð°Ñ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ, которую более 10 лет тренировали американÑкие инÑтрукторы [...]
I might have believed the Russians if they’d stopped with South Ossetia. They haven’t, though.
This was planned. Georgia tried to steal a march on them, but failed.
…
On the way to work this morning, the song "Winds of Change" came on the radio. That song is dead now.
Arnold, we’ve been through this. And it’s not only me saying so. Are you on Stalin’s publicity payroll or something?
Ron Coleman’s last blog post..With donations like that?
to ArnoldHarris
Thanks! You rigth!!!
>>The Ossetins have as much right to pull loose
>>from Gruzia as the latter had to pull loose
>>from Russia. Or that the Albanci of Kosova
>>had to secede from Serbia.
to other commenters:
why the USA participated in division of Serbia and separation of Kosovo but against section of Georgia and independence of Ossetia and Abkhazia???
it is politic of double standarts – one for the "enemy" and other for the "friends".
The Georgian armed formations on the last Monday ran from Gori without any organization and in a full panic. About it the British newspaper The Times writes to Tuesday.
Gori, – marks the edition, – has been thrown by the Georgian army without a uniform shot, and deviation was unexpected for local residents.
" Lorries and the jeeps filled by soldiers of the Georgian army left aside Tbilisi, and military men shouted from machines to local residents that those too left ", – the newspaper writes.
How informs "Interfax", according to the correspondent of the edition, the Georgian military men looked absolutely demoralized and lost will to resistance.
As the newspaper writes, a part of inhabitants Burn is not going to escape from city. In particular, words of the 70-years woman by name Ðтери are given: " I am not afraid. We 100 years lived with Russian, and I do not understand, for what this war. Americans are not necessary to me. I wish to live in the world with Russia ".
Ron, I don’t agree with you or with Dave Price over the role of the Soviet Union in liberating Russia from the Nazis during 1941-1945, nor about the Soviet role in eastern Europe from 1945-1991. Stalin’s Russia was the only organized power that could defeat and destroy Hitler’s Germany. And during those years, that was all that counted.
The sovereignty of the Gruzim means about as much to me in 2008 as the sovereignty of the Mandan, Lakota, Sioux and Blackfoot indian tribes mattered to the government of the United States in 1876. We wanted to take their land in order to populate it with our own people, exploit its resources, and drive away or kill off anybody who could have contested the issue with our leaders of that era.
We won because we had the power to enforce our will over the Indians, and we broke them in the process. That — and no other reason — is why we operate the United States of America in 48 states from coast to coast in a temperate climate zone, plus our alaskan colony in the Arctic and our  hawaiian colony in the central Pacific.
I am certain the modern government of great Russia will treat the defeated and humbled Gruzim with infinitely more compassion and light-handedness than we ever accorded the degraded chieftains and warrior classes of the tribes of Indians whose societies we smashed and destroyed on the great plains of North American only 120 years ago.
Â
Our actions in aiding and arming the Mujahadeen in soviet-controlled Afghanistan under Reagan and G W H Bush helped undermine the Russian presence in that land, and with it, the Soviet Union as a whole. Now we are still in the process of paying a major national price for that unwise intervention in someone else’s back yard. There was no al-Qaeda in Afghanistan until we unwisely helped weaken the Russian control of that country. And the muslim arab attack on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 was just a small part of the price we are still paying for that policy.
I for one welcome back the re-emergence of Russian national power. If only to protect the stability of their own borders, they will do more than any meaningless collection of NATOs and other useless diplomatic fictions, for purposes of making sure the peace is kept in eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and among the turkish republics of south central Asia.
Am I on Stalin’s payroll as you suggest? Not really. But I respected him a lot more than Churchill and Rossevelt rolled up together. Those two were fighting their war from relatively protected sanctuaries, with the wealth of the western world to sustain them. But Stalin knew that he, his government and his country had nobody else they could count on but the strength, bravery and steadfastness of purpose of the great russion nation.
———————————
Russianwerwolf, my wife grew up in Hrvatska and was taught to read your cyrillic alphabet and with it, Russian as well as Serbian. So she translated your statement to me. I wish your soldiers success in protecting the Ossetins and those Gruzim who wish to live in peace with Russia.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I can almost hear The Internationale playing in the back, Arnold, but you don’t even remotely attempt to, much less refute, a single material fact about the role of Stalin, one of history’s greatest mass murderers and the inventor of modern totalitarianism, in causing World War II. Instead you seem to have some kind of weird fixation for what can only be described as, well, Communist propaganda regarding the role of the USSR in that war. You have adjectives, but no facts, and evidently no moral compass whatsoever.
Ron Coleman’s last blog post..Bloggers use deoderants, eat cupcakes
Russia’s the hare, the UN’s the tortoise
And USA are the
smucksspectators.But, but, we were told that Condoleeza Rice is the ultimo Russian expert on these matters ? And she is the Secretary of State.
Oh, well, never mind, Obama is gonna fix all this because he a citizen of the world and he thanked the people of Germany for something in his last speech there.
With all that money Obama has collected perhaps Barry could give a political speech in Tskhinvali, the capitol of South Ossetia.
They have voters, so why not go ? Like Obama could even thank them for something as long as it gets into the MSM sound byte division.
Maybe, I got this all wrong.
After all democracies do not go to war with other democracies according to Professor Reynolds and Dean Esmay.
And those are the guys with the charts.
Stalin and his "non-aggression" (that is, cooperation) pact with the Nazis played a major role in Hitler’s confidence in starting World War II. Stalin’s incompetence and inability to admit that Hitler had stabbed him in the back led directly to the deaths of millions of Russians.
From the American and British perspective in that moment, it was more important to defeat Hitler than Stalin; but after World War II, both allies knew right away that Stalin was now the biggest threat to the world. Because he was.
As Churchill said, if Satan himself had invaded Berlin at the height of World War II, then the Prime Minister would feel compelled to say a kind word about the Devil.
to Arnold Harris
Nice to hear good things from the feeling person… Thanks you for support!
+1
ps: Georgia, Osethia, Abhasia… is not provinces or states… of United States of Amerika… тем более РоÑÑиÑ
Arnold,
The ball is in your court.
With all due respect to our current Secretary of State,
I must apologize.
Ms. Condie Rice has comported herself quite well in her press conference on CSPAN which I am currently viewing.
She mentioned , in fact, that the government of Primeminister Putin has done much more in military behavior, than to protect the citizens of South Ossetia in its aggression against Georgia.
Comments on this entry are closed.