Posted on 08/13/2008 8:34:21 AM PDT by mick
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has made clear it calls the shots in this part of the world, a message other former Soviet bloc countries cannot ignore.
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has been a loyal U.S. ally and has portrayed his nation as a beacon of democracy. But when he tried to stand up to his country's former masters in Moscow, he faced the full wrath of the Russian army.
All I know is that China is looking at this situation, as well as the world’s, and our response and biding it’s time until it does the same to Taiwan.
We need to send in troops to Georgia. The European Union should be massing troops there already along with Poland and Ukraine and the rest of the states at risk. It’s in their best interest!
We are in the unfortunate situation that oil is under control of the most vial countries. Until the Dem’s allow us to drill in our own country we need to protect what is available.
We need to militarize that area and get into a staring game with Russia, they will blink. If they do not want to be part of the club then they must be shown who the real boss is.
I think I would get at least 50 or more countries to send a contingent of about 100 troops each. I would station them all over Georgia. Then I would dare the Russian troops to launch an attack that injures any of the troops of all those countries.
As Russian forces crossed South Ossetia into Georgia, the moment arrived for inescapable acknowledgement that Putin revoked the Cold War armistice. Russian military justifications contains too many parallels to list to Hitler’s concern for Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia. This extravagant attack examples traditional Russian ruling elite neurotic insecurity; neurosis requiring rival power destruction, and never allowing political compromise.
Genetic, multi-millennial paranoia infects the current cabal to regard NATO, former Warsaw Pack countries, and former Soviet republics as encircling enemies. Such perceptions, not shared by Russian people, repudiate years of Western support for emerging Russian representative government, political security, and economic stability.
There can be no permanent peaceful coexistence with a totalitarian Russia, but neither is war inevitable. Illogics lead this cabal onto unacceptable paths, but these Russian elites remain highly susceptible to logics of force with determination to use it. Forceful initiatives require immediately curtailing efforts to integrate the former Soviet Union into the economic, cultural, and political life of the Free World. Next initiatives require increasingly serious discussions of cooperation between NATO, and former Warsaw Pack countries and former Soviet republics. Finally, the United States must update Cold War plans through cooperative military exercises in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Such progressive, consecutive initiatives establish negotiating positions Putin must consider. Effective containment will reveal the fragility of a totalitarian rule needing solidification within a disaffected, cynical population. The West must not reject this opportunity to make the cruel subjection of Georgia become Putin’s undoing.
South Ossetia is also close to the Russians since almost all South Ossetians are Russians and fought a bloody war for independence from Muslim Georgia.
Then there's the rest of Ossetia. North Ossetia is still part of Russia.
True. The Chinese are probably more interested in this than the Russians are. The only people more interested than the Chinese would be the Taiwanese, which is why I’ve said for years that Taiwan better be able to rely on itself defensively for at least a couple months in the event of a Chinese attack. This means total reliance for at least a couple of months, before they factor in any assistance from the US.
If the Taiwanese can hold out for a couple of months then things might be saved. However, if it expects instantaneous assistance from the US then they may be very mistaken (for one there will be no help from the UN, since China will veto it. And even if China is not counted, you can rest assured that Russia will support them in the same way in which China supported Russia in this Georgian thingimajig). Nations like Japan, India and Australia have a major stake when it comes to the peril of future Chinese aggression, but none of them will unilaterally (or even multilaterally, if the US is not present) move against China. A nation like Japan has a very formidable navy, but they lack the will to do anything with it. Australia and India have been building up their capabilities, but I believe neither is willing to test themselves against the Chinese without Uncle Sam holding their hands.
The only country that would stand up against China conventionally is the US (not even Russia could do so ....Russia would win, but they would win through their anti-China doctrine, which calls simply for nuking the Chinese economic and military centers the moment they start taking heavy losses). Thus Taiwan’s angel would be the US, but the question is how quickly that aid would come.
If the president is Obama that could be forever, and if it is McCain it could be sooner ....but it will still take some time.
And if you look at the Chinese, you can be certain that if they do attack that at the same time other hot-spots will flare up. Maybe Iran will act the fool then ....’conveniently’ (that is assuming that the Iran situation has not been sorted by then), as will North Korea (which is a major puppet of the Chinese). Also look for proxy assistance to the Syrians, the Taliban remnants in Afghanistan, and some of the jihadi elements that are still clinging to life in Iraq. Then consider that Pakistan, a nuclear power and the number one fount of Islamic terror in the globe, is even more a puppet of China than North Korea is (even though we consider the Pakistanis to be our ‘allies’).
A president McCain might do the same thing president Bush did in Georgia (in this case maybe deliver humanitarian aid to Taiwan using American navy ships), but if I was in charge of Taiwan I would take measures to ensure that I could hold out for at least a couple of months. That way I will make a real stand, and hopefully by that time the US will have managed to do some action.
p.s: One thing I would NOT do if I was in charge of Taiwan is attack the 3 Gorges dam (as some people on FR say Taiwan should do). The failure of the 3 Gorges would kill a couple million Chinese, and the only response Beijing would have is nuclear. Furthermore, even if Beijing doesn’t nuke Taipei, the fact that millions of Chinese have been killed via the attack on a civilian dam would immediately soak up all support for Taiwan, effectively leaving them high and dry.
Just my thoughts.
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