Posted on 08/15/2008 3:12:08 AM PDT by cyberslave
Choosing expediency over principle, the United States and its allies are pushing Georgia's pro-Western government to accept major concessions in a cease-fire with Russia.
Despite warnings of serious consequences for Russia for its invasion of the former Soviet republic, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to Georgia on Friday to try to persuade its leadership to agree to a deal that expands the mandate of Russian troops on Georgian territory.
The French-mediated proposal calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian combat troops from Georgia, but allows Russian peacekeepers who were in the flashpoint separatist area of South Ossetia before last week's explosion of violence to remain and take a greater role there.
The draft document also does not commit Russia to respecting Georgia's "territorial integrity" but rather refers to Georgian "independence" and "sovereignty," meaning Moscow does not necessarily accept that South Ossetia and another disputed region, Abkhazia, are Georgian.
The proposed cease-fire appears to back down on previous demands from the United States and its European allies that Russia halt all military activity in Georgia and that Georgia's "territorial integrity" must be respected.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Appeasment beats nuclear war and there's nothing in Russia's backyard that is worth the deaths of American ground troops.
Wisdom involves knowing when not to fight.
General Travis drew the line in the sand at the Alamo, not the Rio Grande.
The border ended up being the Rio Grande.
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Now we have two ethnic areas nobody had ever heard of being contested by whom? The Georgians? NO. They lost control of those areas 10-15 YEARS ago.
The Russians are just filling in reality.
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How boring to hear that because the US offers a solution to save Gori, uncut the country in two, keep Tbilisi as a thorn in the side of the Russians, keep the pipeline, and keep us from getting involved in all-out thermonuclear war....well...this brings calls on FR to have had Steve Freaking Forbes run the country instead of W?
Idiotic. And all this geo-strategic wisdom from people who don’t know the difference between the words “lose” and “loose.”
Buying stuff from Russia is not the same as being allied with Russia - it simply means that they have a business arrangement.
Ahmanutjob has too big an ego to let someone just waltz in and take over the place.
Russians are infidels and in Iran’s way of thinking, will die or bow to Islam.
Also, Russia got its collective hats handed to them by Afghanistan (Islam) and more than likely will rethink that move.
True. And to know when to quit while you're ahead.
Suppose we land the 4th ID and take a few hundred or few thousand casualties.
Then we hand over S. Osettia...to whom?
To Tbilisi? Well, oops. Tbilisi wasn't able to govern those provinces before and had resorted to shelling them.
If the Georgians couldn't keep a coherent republic, then we have no business trying to make one.
If the Iraqis had not been able to get the Sunni/Shia/Kurds together in the parliament, then we'd have had no business trying to force a unified country there, either.
That makes her not just an incompetent but an incompetent with a Russian specialty.
But she is still the second worst Secretary Of State in living memory
The country cannot take any more Affirmative Action appointees running the State Department.
We need someone in this important position who possesses qualifications other than the color of their skin or their sexual equipment.
I agree that Condi has not been what I had hoped for but the bottom line is that she must further the Presidents agenda - whatever that is and I’d like to assume it is in America’s best interest, naive I know.
hmmmm - let loose the dogs of war - or we will lose?
Yup. The Georginas lost South Osettia long before the Ruskies rolled their troops in.
Why fight against reality, especially when there is no national interest involved.
Anything with a signature from those commie bullies isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
It is about to get very interesting.
Yep. I don't think that Bush is going to throw Georgia under the bus on this. He knows that there is far too much at stake in the bigger picture.
Well of course there would be attempts at sabotage but from what I saw during the Orange Revolution, even then they were prepared for such attempts.
They kept strong discipline and organization in the tent city on the promenade near the central square. They had unity and made sure not to allow any troublemakers infiltrate and discredit their efforts.
Would expect more of the same from a military operation. If it came down to that, it would be very, very ugly. But then again, Putin has already revealed that now to the world, if anyone had any doubts.
The KGB is alive and well.
I do not believe that an alliance quite equates Vlad coming in and taking over the place.
Agreed, but we can accept nothing less than the Russians and their equipment be on the Northern end of that tunnel.
Possible, though we might draw the line at the Ukraine. And unlike Georgia, they’ve got a credible military. Another option, Armenia, perhaps Azerbaijan or both, which provides a land link to Iran and with Syria also isolates Turkey from the east while minimizing the risk of interference from the west. Lots of options, but only if they can hold Georgia, in fact or defacto.
Yep! And losers are looser with their war “jaw-jaw.”
So far, so good as can be expected.
US/Western national interests end at the end of that pipeline[NOTE] and an unsplit friendly buffer govt in Tbilisi between Russia and Turkey which is connected to the black sea.
Sounds like Gates & Condi are keeping that line without getting Americans killed. As long as Tbilisi is not annexed, Russia still has the SAME political thorn in her side, and we don't have to defend/deal with a heavily militarized border between Russia and Turkey.
I don't see how forcing Osettians to submit immediately to a Georgian govt that has let them be 'autonomous' for a decade is in US national interests. Is it?
[NOTE] I think it's interesting that this pipeline which everyone says is SOOOO critical to Europe, etc, has been SHUT DOWN for weeks before this crisis due to some kind of turkish related terrorists. Regardless of who broke it, it's OBVIOUSLY not that damn critical if there's no oil running through it and the world oil market is still fat dumb and happy and dropping prices. ?????
Why do they need paperwork to protect them? GTH outta my country!
However...they will not have peace and security with a Muslim population over 15%. They need to work on that.
That’s good to hear, and is supported by the fact that Ukraine quickly made blunt statements about what it will and will not allow itself to be subject to peripherally in this conflict.
Good point - oil has fallen to $112 per bbl even without that pipeline on line so there must be more to it than that pipeline.
Maybe something as simple as a line in the sand being crossed or some perceived slight.
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