OK, just this once. :wink: And only if actually Russia backs off Georgia militarily. If not, then he was ineffective.
Doesn't the Iraq War kind of put us in a poor position to criticize Russia? Didn't Georgia attack S Ossetia once the Olympics started, thinking Russia would be distracted? I'm not defending Russia here, but I'm happy much of the world will be wagging their finger at Russia along with the US.
Of course, but it has to be done. America is bigger than one Presidents blunders. South Ossetia is a part of Georgia. It was probably a provocation, but the Ossetia rebellion is an internal matter and it was not an invitation to Russian to intervene. This is Chechnya all over again and a preview of what Russia intends for the Ukraine.
I am not... mctiger. :thumb: Yep. When do internal matters become the concern of external forces? I think I heard reports that Georgia leveled much of S Ossetia. 1500 dead? The fact that they did it when they expected Russia's attention to be diverted makes it even more questionable. [EDIT] Reading up on the situation, it seems there were only 15 dead. Georgia has pulled out of S Ossetia and Russia has advanced into Georgia. Russia is using excessive force in unnecessary retaliation. [EDIT 2] Well, according to Russia, 1500 South Ossetian's are dead, with a wave of 30,000 South Ossetian refugees entering Russia. http://www.eitb24.com/noticia/en/B24_107434 I'm not sure what to think.
The real problem here is that Georgia & Russia have been fighting over an area that does not want to be a part of either Russia or Georgia. The Ossetians want to be an independent country. However, due to the luck of how the boundary lines were drawn when Georgia became independent, the area of Ossetia was included in Georgia. So both Russia and Georgia have ended up with an area of conflict on their borders. Although Georgia claims it to be within its borders, that area has expressed the desire to be independent form the beginning when the Soviet Union broke apart. The place has remained an area of turmoil going on two decades now. Georgia continues to be stubborn and try to control the area, while Russia will have no part of such turmoil in its own back yard. Unfortunately now, Georgia has pressed this issue and Russia is taking advantage of it to perhaps take over Georgia.
This is especially interesting to me by chance. One of the the engineers in the company I work for is from, and currently lives in Moscow. He just so happened to be here in town when this all went down... As far as he's concerned, Russia did no wrong, and the Ukraine is next if they don't take note. Makes for some interesting conversation over lunch sometimes.. State television over there tells him things way different than what media tells us here. Interesting, but scary sometimes.
Similar circumstances here as well. One of the guys I work with is from Ukraine. He and his family immigrated to US eleven years ago. Made for some interesting conversations during lunch. His basic stance here is that Georgia is the aggressor and they should have known better. I asked if he was concerned about Ukraine being attacked. He laughed it off and joked that if they are attacked, all they can do is throw bricks back in defense. Overall, he and friends back "home" do not sound concerned at all.
