Posted by
Don White on Monday, August 18, 2008 10:57:15 AM
Monday, August 18, 2008
Gori,
Georgia--Russian President Medvedev signed the agreement several days
ago requiring his troops to pull out of Georgia proper. If they're
leaving, as recent news reports say, why are his troops on Monday still
milling around in Gori inspecting international relief trucks?
This
is typicaL Russian doublespeak. They sign agreements right and left
they don;'t intend to keep. The pattern of deceit with their leaders
Vladimir Putin and Medvedev is quite evident. Say one thing, do
another. Keep the enemy off balance. Forget international public
opinion.
Even with Stalin and Trotsky, if they said they would do something they usually did.
But
the current masters of deceit send conflicting messages all the time
and an agreement--even a signed and witnessed document--is only a piece
of paper and means nothing.
This is contrary
to how their nationalized oil companies work when signing up new
country clients. That's because business is "clean" business and
politics is dirty business. It's all for the show. When Russia wants
something they dot every i and seem to fit the mould of modern business
men and women and good, reliable people. But let them get the upper
hand on you and it's like the scheming, conniving, double crossing
detectives on TV's Law & Order who debase you every which-way and
wring every bit of information and dignité out of you. Both the former Soviets and the Law guys do everything they can to smear and undercut their enemies.
Law & Order or LA Law cops are the good guys. Russia's
leaders have shown abundant proof they are the bad guys. Frankly, if
you were being grilled by a cocky detective for something you didn't do
or being pushed around by the Russian military, the result would be the
same. Hey, not really. If I had my choice I take LA Law, or even the
baddest guy of television lore, the inimitable Miles Drentell of Thirtysomething which unfortunately isn't still on the tube.
Is
it any wonder that we recoil at what goes on in politics?
Our hearts go
out to all the people of Georgia, those who have been wounded or maimed
or are among the 140,000 around Tblisi who are displaced, hungry and
lonely--to the relatives of those who were killed due to no fault of
their own. Our eyes were wet as we watched the brutality of war in this
small country, both in South Ossetia and Georgia proper. And I guess
we'd better get used to calling Georgia that because Russia isn't
getting out of Ossetia, nor out of the face of the Georgians. They have
missile launchers set up in Ossetia right now that could hit targets in
Tblisi. And Putin shivers and recoils at the thought of the U.S.
installing missile interceptors in Poland aimed at Iran?
And
now the U.S. and the West are trying to think of an "appropriate
response"
to punish Russia for what the West will likely politely term "a misadventure" into a soverign
nation. I'm ashamed of myself for even suggesting that word. That was no simple misadventure, it was armed conflict, unauthorized intervention into the affairs of a sovereign nation. Count on the West to soft-peddle this catastrophe with some
slaps-on-the-wrist verbiage. Then it's business as usual
with the Ruuskis? That's disgusting if that's all they do.
Tit-for-tat is more appropriate,
and you won't get an argument on that
from the Georgians. George Bush should install missile interceptors in
Tbilisi to take out the missiles Putin has aimed at them. In my mind
that would be just a mild response.
We
in America who pride ourselves on fairness should insist on Georgia getting missile interceptors as a
minimum requirement, and I'll go one further. President Mikhail
Saakashvili should install some missile launchers of his own aimed at
Moscow.
Haven't the
"reds" done enough damage already? The word "leave" usually means
leave, but not with the despicable Putin-led former commies. (Might as
well call them "commies," that's really what they are how they're acting.) Why aren't
those missiles on Russian territory instead of Georgian? When did the UN give them
permission to install them. Who said they could be Georgia's big brother slap-em-around enforcer?
The Russian missiles aimed at Tbilisi from Georgian soil had better be on the UN top burner until they are removed.
Meanwhile don't trust the Russians on anything. Their agreements and public pronouncements are only so much claptrap.