Russia goes to War.

[Valentina]

With an actual US-Iraqi Occupation all -Georgia.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080808/ap_on_re_eu/georgia_south_ossetia

Well well well. Has kind of a Cold War smell to it, what with Georgia apparently being a comrade-in-sand with the US.

[ThunderMonkey]

With an actual US-Iraqi Occupation all -Georgia.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080808/ap_on_re_eu/georgia_south_ossetia

Well well well. Has kind of a Cold War smell to it, what with Georgia apparently being a comrade-in-sand with the US.

Eh... the Cold War was a joke after the 1970s.

Bush has looked into the eyes and soul of Putin and saw that he is good, so we're not going to be rushing to Georgia's aid any time soon.

I mentioned this to a co-worker and their response: "What does Russia want with Atlanta?" (In all seriousness).

I wanted to cry.

[Krensky]

"What does Russia want with Atlanta?"

Coca-Cola.

[Bill Whitmore]

I mentioned this to a co-worker and their response: "What does Russia want with Atlanta?" (In all seriousness).

I was so close to making that comment myself, but with no seriousness intended.

[Psion]

I mentioned this to a co-worker and their response: "What does Russia want with Atlanta?" (In all seriousness).

 

[Forcegypsy]

You're sure your co-worker wasn't joking I guess. Ignorance, bliss and all that. [shakes head sadly]

As to Georgia, the status of their military readiness has been very measurably improved by their status as an ally in the 'coalition of the willing', they are light years better equipped and trained now than they were a 5 years ago. Has Bushco decided whether to air transpo the Georgian troops in Iraq by air across Turkey yet? The law of unintended consequences rears it's ugly head.

1500+ military dead in this short space of time is pretty much an actual conventional war kicked off isn't it?

[Valentina]

So an interesting update:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_russia_georgia

Now, what gets my AD tumbling is:
"A senior U.S. official said the United States and its allies suspected Russia had been planning an invasion for some time and deliberately instigated the conflict through attacks on Georgian villages by pro-Russian forces in South Ossetia despite outwardly appealing for calm and promising to rein in the separatists.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Bush administration deliberations, said there were numerous "unpleasant precedents" for the current situation, including the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslavkia."

Assuming there's any truth to that quite a bit is said about how Dubbya and coven see the Russians now -and how little they think has changed since Afghanistan. Not much of a surprise given the brains in the think-tank so to speak...

[Krensky]

Also not surprising since the current Russian leadership was involved in both of those events.

And I can't believe I'm defending Dubbya.

[Mister Andersen]

Also not surprising given the patriotic fervour the authorities are attempting to propagandise people into if you happen to read any russian bloggers

[OverNinja]

You only needed to hear the UN ambassador speaking...

[Mister Andersen]

If there was only enough magic in the world for a single spell to be cast, it would be a geas to tell the absolute truth on the UN

[Morgenstern]

Casually speaking, I back Russia.

When an area the size of one of our counties fights a bloody revolution and wins, or at least makes it stick for 16 years, not only is the parent nation too small and screwed up to survive, but neither group is nearly afraid enough of the world around them. They can all go back to living under the iron fist, because they pretty much failed at personal sovereignty. Quite a few of the former soviet republics used their newfound freedom from the great bear as a excuse to shoot their neighbors until the only approriate word for it was genocide. This between groups that have been next to each other and bickering since roughly the stone age and where anyone not born within a 75 mile radius would be categorically incapable of telling faction A from faction B in a police line up. I expect a number of the spin-off nations to get swept back into the fold, and tragically for their people to be better off for it. Seriously, the world is too big and too scary a place to think that the powers that be will leave you to have squables of such utterly petty maginitude rather than just conquer you and take control of everything both sides claim to own.

[Mister Andersen]

Iraq also proves that point about dictatorship being best for the people quite nicely.

[Morgenstern]

It makes a case. I don't know if I'd hold it up as conclusive in light that the particular regime in question (Iraq has had quite a few over the history of the human race) failed to get along with a superpower that eventually crushed it.

[OverNinja]

I'm against Russia. Too much history, both family and national.

So anything that takes them down a peg or two is good.