WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT GEORGIA?
Russia invaded Georgia the day before a weekend. Russia invaded Georgia the day before the 2008 Olympic Games. Russia invaded Georgia when 80 world leaders were in China and far away from their home nations (see here). Coincidence? Not likely.
Imagine being a world leader and far away from most of the people you rely upon for advice. Even communicating with other world leaders is awkward. Even though everyone is in the same place, private communications are difficult. So what do you do? Even though time is of the essence, you hesitate.
What does this say about the situation? It says Russia cares what we think. As much as possible, Russia wants to mug Georgia without interference. Consider, for example, how the Russian stock market reacted.
Russian stock markets fell further today as traders reacted to the continuing conflict in Georgia. Two benchmark Russian share indexes hit their lowest levels in nearly two years.
In the first 15 minutes of trade, Russia’s benchmark RTS index fell 4.24pc to 1,649.75, its lowest level since November 2006. The MICEX index hit an intraday low of 1,282.38, its lowest level since September 2006. (see here)
What we are looking at is a lopsided contest. Georgia has about 4,630,841 (July 2008 est.) people whereas Russia has about 140,702,094 (July 2008 est.). Georgia’s only hope is the support of other nations. Georgia has every right to expect the world to support its claim to sovereignty.
There is, of course, the immorality of other nations watching a bully behave as a bully and doing nothing. We can say there is nothing we can do, but we know that is not true. Isn’t that why Russia invaded when they hoped to catch everyone off guard? Keep in mind that our stock market is climbing. It is the Russian stock market that got cold feet.
There is also a matter of self-interest. Consider that the Russia we know today came into existence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a result Russia is surrounded by a bunch of smaller nations, the former victims of the Soviet Union. These are new nations just now learning how to govern themselves as independent entities. These nations include:
- Belarus
- Ukraine
- Moldova
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Kazakhstan
- Uzbekistan
- Turkmenistan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tajikistan
- Estonia
- Lithuania
- Latvia
Most of these nations directly border Russia. In fact, many nations border Russia. If Russia gets away with invading Georgia, what lesson do you think Russia’s neighbors will learn? Do think that they will find nuclear weapons far more attractive?
So what can we do? There are ideas and blogs discussing them. I suggest you consider what you are hearing and then write your congressman. Tell him or her to get to work. When all is said and done there is only one question. Do we have the will to act?
Other Views
The right-wing liberal has several posts on this subject. Here he reviews What America can do for Georgia.
Bear Drift’s Chris O explains Why Georgia Matters.
Blacknell warns against a military confrontation (here). He seeks to rally the Left against old men starting wars.
Rick Sincere News and Thoughts offers an odd observation (here).
The Armchair Generalist blames the victim, the Bush Administration, Cheney, and perhaps Putin (see here).
QandO observes The Bear Resurgent while SWAC Girl asks Is the old U.S.S.R. returning?
Tom, you once again read your own biases in to what others write. I am not seeking to rally any political segment. And while I am, as a general rule, rather opposed to old men starting wars, my post merely called for *all* to educate themselves about this conflict.
Consider that Georgia attacked into South Ossetia first.
I have a different take on this – as in it isn’t a surprise.
Wow. I love that all of your information on these two countries comes from the CIA’s word factbook, and the only metric you cite to compare the two nations is worthless. A head-to-head comparison of total populations? By that metric, there’s nothing stopping the Indians from annihiating us.
For future reference, there’s a section on military strength that lists % of GDP dedicated to military expenditures. The GDP itself is expressed in dollars and can be found in the economic section. Multiplying the two against one another will at least give you a starting point for guessing who’s spending more on fielding a larger, more technically-advanced force. You should probably also find maps that include roads, railways and more-detailed topographical features because the one you used may tell me that Georgia is somewhere near something called the Black Sea, but it fails at telling me that Gori is a strategic crossroads or that there’s only one road from N. Ossetia into S. Ossetia through the Caucas mountain range.
In the meantime I’m going to make the educated guess that you’re just faking knowing about strategic-level warfare and the geopolitical consequences related to doing whatever it is you apparently think we should be doing.