The war that is now raging in the Republic of Georgia is the latest example of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Nu-Soviet expansion. One can argue that President Saakashvili of Georgia bit off a bit more than he could chew with his assault on the South Ossetian separatists.
Observers have been all over the web accusing Georgia of attacking first and deserve everything they are getting. There is one small problem with that argument. South Ossetia is a part of Georgia and not a part of Russia. The Russians have given the vast majority of the South Ossetians Russian citizenship as a way of providing an excuse to intervene on these new Russians behalf.
When Georgia attempted to regain control of their own territory from the separatists it gave Russia the excuse it needed to invade. If you have not been keeping up with the politics in this area of the world, let me update you a bit. The Republic of Georgia has been a democracy ever since the non-violent Rose revolution in 2003 that saw the exit of Eduard Shevardnadze, former Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union.
Georgia has been a thorn is the side of Russia ever since with their aspirations of joining NATO and the EU. Putin has viewed Georgia and the Ukrainians ambitions of joining NATO as a threat to his sphere of influence. He maybe right, but with the history of Russian empirical lust, containment is good medicine for that lust.
For those of you that think Georgia is the instigator in this mess, just remember that Russia has been violating Georgian airspace with MiGs and launching wayward missiles into a democratic Georgia for the past year. Russia cut off natural gas supplies to Georgia during a brutal winter and they fund and arm the South Ossetian separatists in their quest to leave Georgia. The NU-Soviets are on the rise and they must be stopped now!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Putin's NU-Soviets
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I'm not buying this idea that Putin is a Soviet. If anything, he's a good deal further to the Right than most politicians in Europe, and probably America as well.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't argue that NATO is an "American Empire". Quite the opposite, in fact! (America doesn't "do" empire.) But Putin was understandably alarmed at the idea that a country on Russia's border was even considered for membership - and understandably emboldened when Georgia's membership was put on hold under pressure from Germany and France.
The real comparison though is with Kosovo. Kosovo was part of Serbia. The Clinton-Blair-Schroder Axis (with President Chirac of France, bizarrely enough, being the almost-honourable sceptic) bombed it all the same, and Gen Wesley Clarke had non-military civilian targets in Belgrade bombed as well.
One difference between South Ossetia and Kosovo I can think of is that Russia had actually had peacekeepers in South Ossetia for years. The only presence the West had in Kosovo before 1999 though were gangs of Muslim terrorists, who were being funded by the CIA, armed by the German BND, and trained by the SAS.
Thanks for the comment. In regards to Putin being a Nu-Soviet, just remember, Putin was quoted as saying “First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory."
ReplyDeleteThe ex-KGB officer seems to long for the "good ole days" if you listen to what he has said. General Wes Clarke was was/is a moron and should have been tried before a military court for some of his actions.
Cheers!
Yes, yes, but you seem to be making my point for me. Putin is a fascist (imperialist nostalgic, at any rate, even if he's not an ideological fascist), not a Communist.
ReplyDeleteShould say, "I do not mean to imply"
ReplyDelete