Current Events: George(-ia) and Obama

Sorry for the bad pun in the title.  I have 2 thoughts for today:

1.  I came across a fantastic piece on the Georgia-Russia war by Michael Totten.  It is long but I assure you it is worth it for perspective on the conflict.

2.  Ok, this Obama thing....

I have seen some hero worship of politicians in my past 12 years as a voter but I am truly amazed by the degree to which people are nuts about Obama.  I have seen college classmates act like giddy 14 year old girls when Bill Clinton was on Leno.  I have seen kids not old enough to vote volunteering massive hours to the re-elect GW campaign with little or no actual grasp of issues or policies; just a dislike of those with a (D).  But this....

I am going to post an excerpt from a recent blog I read.  I don't see any reason to give the source but I will say that it's someone I know and respect.  If he/she reads this and recognizes their words they are welcome to claim them but since I am being critical, I will just leave them anonymous for now.

i finally get it.

no more petty attacks or judgments on those who are on the other side. we don’t have time, like obama says, to play games and villify those who differ from us in politics, social issues, religion, anything…there is no time and space in the urgent circumstances today to fight about republican or democrat, conservative or liberal…red or blue. we have bigger fish to fry. yes we do! yes we can!

…it’s quite a moment. on the day of mlk jr’s speech about his dreams of black and white joining together as the US of America, obama is on the same thread articulating it in terms of red and blue…coming together as americans who love this country and want to make a change for the better…a new day is surely dawning… 

I really can only say...  

He is just a man!  A significantly flawed and unwise man from my perspective, but surely a man.  He is a politician and he will not change how politics works because he's beholden to the system; it's gotten him where he is today.  His speech last night in the halls of the Greek gods (haha) may have been beautiful but it was only words.

Let's have some perspective.

Ukraine drawn into Russian-Georgian war?

I can't recall where I first read about this (I suspect it was one of the several American-in-Ukraine bloggers I read) but I just found this AP story recently.

In essence it says that Ukraine has threatened to bar Russian warships headed to Georgia from re-entering the port of Sevastopol until the conflict is resolved.  Sevastopol, on the other side of Crimea from us, was the headquarters of the Soviet Black Sea fleet and is currently under a tenuous lease to Russia until 2017.  Were Ukraine to do this, it would further exacerbate the tensions between the 2 nations and I hope it doesn't indicate that this conflict is going regional.

You were warned....

The recent news of war in our general neighborhood between Russia and Georgia (not the Bulldog variety) reminded me of predictions made earlier in the year when North Albania (AKA Kosovo) was torn from Serbia by the UN.  While I previously stated that in that case there really wasn't a good guy, I thought it set a bad precedent.

As it became increasingly clear in February that the US, UN, EU and all other 2-letter entities were going to back the independence of North Albania, Russia argued vehemently on behalf of their Serbian slavic brothers.  One of their main "sticks" (they really didn't offer any carrots) was that if Kosovo was allowed independence, the west would have no logical argument to the similar break-away Georgian regions in Russia's backyard.  Abkhazia and South Ossetia are both making similar demands for independence.  Russia has decided that what is good for the goose is good for the gander (is my mom the only one that uses that line?) and is holding firm on its support for what they see as fellow countrymen.

On August 8th Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia to retake the capital, reportedly killing and injuring a number of Russian peacekeepers.  Primarily this was a stupid move by Georgia with Russia still itching to flex its regional muscle after the Kosovo thing.  Conversely, in Georgia's defense, I am under no illusions that the Russian "peacekeepers" in South Ossetia were anything but frontline troops who were ordered to go toe-to-toe with any Georgian military units.  This was demonstrated by how quickly Russian tanks rolled onto the scene, backed by modern fighter aircraft.

If I had to make a prediction I'd say that the world, US included, will have no stomach to try to step into armed conflict on the Russian boarder.  Since little Georgia has no chance in any kind of military match-up, this means that South Ossetia will probably have an independent New Year for 2009.