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NATO Meows
Charles Krauthammer 8/22/2008
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Read the first five paragraphs of the NATO statement on the Russian invasion of Georgia and you will find not a hint of who invaded whom. The statement is almost comically evenhanded. "We deplore all loss of life," it declared, as if deploring a bus accident. And, it "expressed its grave concern over the situation in Georgia." Situation, mind you.

It's not until paragraph six that NATO, a 26-nation alliance with 900 million people and nearly half of world GDP, unsheathes its mighty sword, boldly declaring "Russian military action" -- not aggression, not invasion, not even incursion, but "action" -- to be "inconsistent with its peacekeeping role."

Having launched a fearsome tautology Moscow's way, what further action does the Greatest Alliance of All Time take? Cancels the next NATO-Russia Council meeting.

That's it. No dissolution of the G-8 (group of industrial democracies). No blocking of Russian entry to the World Trade Organization. No suspension of participation in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (15 miles from the Georgian border). No statement of support for the Saakashvili government.

Remember: At issue is not military action, only measures -- painless for the West -- that would significantly affect Russia. In Soviet days, Russia didn't
care because it was at the center of a self-enclosed autarkic system that included 15 Soviet republics, all of Eastern Europe and a collection of overseas colonies. With these all gone, post-Soviet Russia is infinitely more dependent on the international system. It has political/economic pressure points. Yet with Georgia occupied, its infrastructure stripped and its capital under siege, NATO pushed not one of them.

Russian TV is already trumpeting "a crack in the NATO camp." More like a chasm. Writing in the Times of London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband even opposes expelling Russia from the G-8 -- a perfectly calibrated and long-overdue measure. And a German diplomat says the Georgia issue should not have been brought to NATO in the first place, but instead to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a completely toothless consultative body, and to the United Nations, where inaction is guaranteed by the Russian veto.

To their credit, the French tried to do something. Unfortunately, President Nicolas Sarkozy was snookered by Moscow. Article V of the cease-fire agreement he brokered, allowing Russia the right to "implement additional security measures" within the borders of Georgia, is a blank check for Russian occupation.

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RUSSIA digging in
By Patrick Chappatte - The International Herald Tribune * Posted 8/19/2008 12:00:00 AM
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RUSSIA digging in
© Copyright 2008  Patrick Chappatte - All Rights Reserved.

Posted By: geoff  on Friday, August 22, 2008

Hey, Krauthammer: you're a moron. What could NATO do? even if we weren't tied up in a couple of quagmires already. And Georgia started it anyway (as even Pat Buchanan recognises, surprisingly).

What's even more interesting, though, are the ties between Saakashvili and McCain: did they cook up this "October Surprise" somehow? Why else would Saakashvili do something so stupid as to try to stir up trouble with Russia? Did someone tell him NATO would come to his rescue?

Posted By: Art W  on Friday, August 22, 2008

Hey Geoff: You're a dope. Read the piece (I'd say "Re-Read", but I don't think you read it for the first time yet). It states exactly what NATO did, and what actions they could have taken - but didn't.



And, aren't you starting a bit early blaming this on McCain? Isn't EVERYTHING still Bush's fault?

Posted By: geoff  on Saturday, August 23, 2008

Art W: no, it doesn't say anything about what NATO "could have taken"; Krauthammer says something about "dissolution of the G-8" (the G8 & NATO are 2 different entities; that's one reason why they have different names); "blocking of Russian entry to the World Trade Organization" (ditto); "no suspension of participation in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics" (isn't it a bit premature for that anyway, even if NATO was speaking for national Olympic committees? & if no one boycotted Beijing, how likely is a 2014 boycott anyway?); "no statement of support for the Saakashvili government" (why would NATO support Saakashvili's stupid, boneheaded provocation? he should have known Russia would get mad & could pound him back into the Stone Age).

And then a legitimate question: why is Georgia a NATO issue anyway? Georgia is not a member of NATO, there is no reason why the rest of NATO should defend Georgia if its leader is stupid enough to provoke a fight with Russia; we made a big enough mistake with letting Latvia join...

The thing with McCain is his foreign-policy aide's ties to Saakashvili, suggesting that - in an ideal world - maybe Randall Scheunemann should have some explaining to do.

So: would I wrong in thinking that maybe I might be owed an apology?

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