Posted by
American Conservative on Friday, August 22, 2008 2:18:00 PM
“A faithful fried is a sturdy shelter; he that has found one has found a treasure.” This quote came to mind as I have sat glued in front of the TV the last couple of days, watching the conflict waging in Georgia. Before this conflict I bet most people didn’t even know that there was a country named Georgia, let alone locate it on a map. I believe that the United States, NATO, and the West in general dropped the ball in the most unbelievable way and I’ll explain how and why, according to my own conservative ginger views.
As I mentioned in my previous blog “The Russian Resurrection” Russia has benefited greatly from the rising price of oil. They are seeking to be the new OPEC; they want to be the energy czar of the world. Recently they sent a submarine to the North Pole and shot a Russian flag through the ice claiming it, in their eyes as part of Russia. I hate to tell you Russia but from what I remember though still controversial the first two people to “reach” the North Pole were Americans, there is still a bit of a controversy about it. If all you have to do is plant your flag somewhere and it’s yours then I guess we really do control the world. Starting in Derna located now in modern day Tunisia, to Tokyo, Tianjin, the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, and France, twice, to name only a few. We would also control the moon, mars and several major asteroids. How do you like those apples Russia?
First, the reasons why the conflict started. Georgia seeking to regain control over South Ossetia a region that since the early 90’s with support from Russian achieved de facto independence, decided to invade. The Russians granted citizenship to all South Ossetian’s, whether they wanted it or not and invaded the province to “protect their citizens.” So you can argue whether the Russians had cause originally but they bombed the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and sent troops well into Georgia proper. They even continued to bomb Georgia after accepting a ceasefire. What this all come down to is energy. Georgia has the only non Russian controlled pipelines that link the energy producing nations around the Caspian Sea to the world market. Russia would like nothing better than to completely control the supply from these nations greatly increasing their control on the world’s energy supply. Another reason is the fact that Georgia along with Ukraine sought to be accepted into NATO. I bet you can imagine what Russia thinks about that. Georgia is a strong ally of the United States and in fact in the inteview he did on the Glenn Beck show their President Mikheil Saakashvili understood more about how government is supposed to function that most of the clowns in Washington.
Second, I’ll explain the reasons why no one did anything to stop Russia. As mentioned in a previous blog Europe, for the most part since the end of the Cold War has been living at least in their minds in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory (the Gene Wilder one not the creepy one with Johnny Depp). Europe is figuratively lounging around eating everything in sight, swimming in the chocolate river, and being pampered by the oompa loompas. President Reagan warned all of Europe against the building of pipelines connecting Europe to Russia. Naively after the fall of the USSR Europe went ahead and built the pipelines thus enslaving themselves to Russia. Europe relies on Russia for 25% of their oil and 40% of their natural gas. If they step out of line Russia will simply turn off the tab during the winter months and freeze them into submission. The United States failed to act because we like Europe are slaves to oil and those who produce it. Also, we are over stretched in our military commitments throughout the world, from Iraq, to Taiwan, to Kosovo, and Korea. It’s hard to admit but we don’t have the military capability of solving all the world’s conflicts by ourselves. This again goes back to Europe’s Willy Wonkaneosis.
Now you are probably thinking; with all this going on what could we have done? Personally I have my own ideas but I won’t share them in much detail here due to the fact that I know it’s easy when I don’t really have a say and I won’t have to deal with the consequences. What I do know is that the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, who can empathize greatly with Georgia went to Tbilisi to show his and his countries support for Georgia. The Ukrainians threatened to not allow the Russian ships that are blockading Georgia to return to their ports in the Black Sea. Quite a threat knowing what we know about the energy control Russia has over Ukraine. If Ukraine is standing up to Russia why aren’t we? Well, President Bush condemned the attacks and had some strong language for Russia… Neville Chamberlain used strong language with Hitler and look where it got them. The West and in particular the United States has proven to Russia and others that they have some wiggle room to do what they want. Many of the previous Soviet Republics like Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and others have chosen to side with the United States against Russia believing that we’d protect them if attacked. I bet you there are some nervous people in Eastern Europe tonight over our lack of serious action to this conflict. But what makes Georgia so crucial goes back to the quote I used to start off this blog. Do you know which country has the largest amount of troops in Iraq after the United States and Great Britain? That would be Georgia. When most of the world left Iraq or in large part didn’t even show up, Georgia came to help the United States, their friend. If we can’t help one of our best friends, our “treasure” what will everyone else think? Poland has been sold out by the west more times than they can count. Czechoslovakia was sold out to Hitler by France and Great Britain because they didn’t want to risk war for “the Sudetenland.” Our friends are the only hope we have for defeating the rising power of Russia, China, and Iran. I sincerely hope that war does not come. I have great friends and family that would be called up to fight if we went to war, but to quote Saint Augustine, “The purpose of war is peace.” If we don’t stand up for those that have risked so much for us, what hope can we have for the future?
“A faithful fried is a sturdy shelter; he that has found one has found a treasure.”