speaking of hypocrisy.. I thought your readers might enjoy this political satire, making fun of the american position;

If you'd rather not have this up here, by all means delete it, it does not have any virus in it. I posted it on my own site but sometimes, a little satire goes a long way. Especially when politics can be so frustrating and/or maddening..
Ingrid

Remember Kosovo, my fellow US citizens. All the finely parsed pettifogging about why Kosovo was SO-O-O different from South Ossetia or Abkhazia really amounts to nothing but a bald-faced claim that the US is morally superior to its enemies, and therefore, it is justified in launching wars of aggression against sovereign states for actions that happen entirely within their borders, but Russia and any other nation it chooses to brand as "evil" are not. In other words, based on their own, unilateral interpretation of what is "moral" and "virtuous," the US and its allies assume the right to dictate to the rest of the world, carving it up as they please as long as they strike suitably self-righteous poses while they do it. They assume the right to launch wars of aggression whenever and wherever they please, without recourse to any competent international organization, based on their assumed right to impose their moral judgments on the rest of the world. Gott mit uns!! This, my friends, is a perfect recipe for World War III.

Has everyone in the world really become so ideologically hidebound that they simply are incapable of intelligent thought anymore? It seems the number of people who can actually think for themselves is becoming vanishingly small. It was refreshing to read this article by Larry Derfner in the Jerusalem Post:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218446195149&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFul

but it is startling how few people are capable of even his minimal level of introspection. The "intellectual" response of all but this tiny minority can be reliably predicted based simply on which ideological box they happen to live in. The movie "Team America" had it exactly right. The world is divided into "pussies" and "assholes," liberals and conservatives. They mouth the shibboleths and slogans appropriate for the box they live in, congratulate each other on their wisdom, and they never, ever, think. One draws certain conclusions from this. When one's nation is at war, one realizes that it is better to have the "assholes" in power, because of the "pussies'" tendency to turn tail and run at the first opportunity. The situation in Georgia is different. Once again, the conservatives are their bellicose selves, making stirring, Nathan Hale speeches about the need to take a firm stand against the "bullies," the "aggressors.” We are told we must “punish” Russia, hem her in with enemies on all sides, and make alliances with those enemies that will force us to support them with military force, allowing them to humiliate her at will, just as Georgia would have humiliated her if she had been allowed to attack and overrun minorities dependent on her while she stood idly by.

Allow me to remind you all of what happened in 1914 after Russia was subjected to a series of similar humiliations in the Balkans. Wasn’t the result horrendous enough that time? Must we now repeat it with nuclear weapons? Is Georgia’s “right” to attack ethnic minorities so important to us that we are willing to risk a nuclear holocaust, and with it, the devastation not only of the cities of Russia and the US, but of Europe as well, to defend it? Think, people! Try for a moment to reason a centimeter outside the bars of the ideological boxes you live in!

Nothing could have been more blindly stupid, more willfully self-destructive than our attack on Serbia in defense of the Kosovars. Oh, I know, it was S-O-O-O different from the situation in Georgia. It was officially approved by 9,239 different sovereign independent states, the pope, the grand mufti of Constantinople, and the German Spiegel magazines’s entire menagerie of “Friedensforscher.” What lying cant! Kosovo is case law, my friends, it established a precedent. There is no substantial difference whatsoever between Kosovo and Georgia that does not amount to a claim by the US and its allies to superior righteousness and moral virtue, and, consequently, the right to dictate “international law” to the rest of the world. “Gott mit uns!”

Kosovo “different” from Georgia? You got that right! Unlike the dear, “democratic,” morally pure Georgians, Serbia never unleashed area effect weapons against a defenseless civilian population in an urban center before she was attacked. Given what we have now seen of the free reign Georgia gave and continues to give to undisciplined and heavily armed “militia,” and her unleashing of unguided rockets against civilians, it is hardly a stretch to suggest that, if her aggression had succeeded, ethnic cleansing would have been the result. “Differences,” you say? Don’t make me laugh. You can heap up your manure piles of “differences” to the rafters if you like. It doesn’t matter. Who, exactly, is to be the judge of whether these “differences” are substantial enough to permit a US attack on Serbia, but not Russian retaliation against Georgia? The UN? The UN did not approve our attack on Serbia. The International Criminal Court? The ICC didn’t approve our attack on Serbia. Who is to adjudicate these disputes? No one, of course, except the United States and its allies, by default. They assume the right to dictate morality to the rest of the world. They need only wrap themselves in a haze of self-righteous propaganda, strike pious poses, and, Voila!, any bald-faced aggression is instantly transmuted into an expression of the most sublime virtue.

Baring international acceptance by such nations as Russia, China, and India that the United States, or any combination of the US and its allies, is so morally superior to the rest of the world, such a paragon of virtue, that it can unilaterally decide when an act of aggression is “good” or “evil,” there is no difference, in principle between Kosovo and Georgia whatsoever. Our attack on Serbia was an act of such sublime and profound stupidity that it was bound to blow up in our faces. The only question was, when? What we did in Kosovo was establish the precedent that any ethnic minority has the right, regardless of the wishes of the citizens of the country as a whole, to unilaterally seize a chunk of territory and elevate themselves to the status of an independent state. It has that right even if, like the Kosovars, they were not the original occupants of that territory, but became a majority there by immigration and a faster rate of reproduction than the original inhabitants. Remember all the mealy-mouthed pronouncements by the US government about “respecting the territorial integrity of Serbia,” that were bandied about at the time? What a joke! Was anyone really stupid enough to believe them? Was anyone really stupid enough to believe that the creation of a rump Serbia and an independent Kosovar state was not the inevitable result of our actions?

Why, exactly, did we fight our own Civil War? What was the point of those 650,000 deaths? Based on the Kosovar precedent, what conceivable right do we have to preserve our Union? What conceivable right have we to object if Hispanic immigrants decide to claim the territory of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and establish their own independent state? Based on the Kosovar precedent, none whatsoever.

Think! Reason! Must we rush blindly forward to a nuclear holocaust like so many lemmings? Must we really mouth all the usual hackneyed slogans about “appeasement” as we trip merrily along on the road to disaster, even though the only ones we are appeasing are the Georgian aggressors? In spite of that aggression, Russia did not take over Georgia, or depose her government. How, then are we to judge all the idiotic propaganda equating her to Nazi Germany as other than the blather of fools? For once, let us listen to the wise words of our first President. Let us avoid entangling alliances. Let us cease poking sticks into the Russian hornets’ nest, risking our own annihilation and that of hundreds of millions of other innocents, based on a non-existent “right” to dictate the future of the former republics of the Soviet Union.

You must be kiddYou must be kidding comparing Kosovo to Georgia. Way different. We (the US) did not invade another country.
If China started to launch rockets onto Russian soil what would Russia do? Yes they would retaliate, most likely we would have helped Russia….Well until now.
How is this any different from Georgia retaliating against domestic attacks that has nothing to do with Russia?
Most Americans had an affinity for Russia. Your current leadership has done nothing but try to return to Soviet Area tactics, State run TV, Bulling smaller countries tell them they would be a target for nuclear attacks if they allow a missile DEFENCE system on their soil (come on they are not nukes, but that is another issue), and not to mention your leaders not relinquishing power when their term is up. Putin should be retired and giving talks at a university not continuing his reign.
If things continue and this Blog is run from a Russian citizen this Blog wont even exist soon.
My supervisor was from Russia (when it was Soviet Union) he said there was a joke that after dark if there is a knock on the door you let grandpa answer it. Referring to the KGB taking people in the middle of the night. Do you really not see what is happening? Read up on east Germany.
You cant compare the US to Russia….the only foreign soil we ever kept was the ground we buried our soldiers in…..yeah remember the same country who help keep Germany from taking over all of Russia.
I just hope we can get back to they was things were in the 1990’s when I wanted to take a vacation to Russia.
Don’t let your country turn back into a Soviet Union. Freedom isn’t free
ing compairing

Brian Dayton,
i can see you typing this up and waving the American flag.

Brian, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOJiVqg9_20

For five minutes try to switch off your bias and just listen to what PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS has to say.

You might also need to read this, for the sake of getting a better picture of the situation:

"Two Morons: Bush and Saakashvili
"President Bush, Will You Please Shut Up?""

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08132008.html

Don't keep your eyes wide shut.

Try hard to distinguish fact from fiction.

http://english.pravda.ru/world/ussr/15-08-2008/106112-sky_news-0

I'm going to side with Helian, here--and for more reasons than I can count.

I wonder just how many Americans today recall the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the Bay of Pigs "Incident"? Sadly, perhaps not enough.

In those days, the U.S. government grew self-righteous to the point of considering wreaking nuclear havoc over the USSR, and all because we were indignant over Soviet missiles and technicians planted on soil no closer than 90 miles from American shores. (Meanwhile there was no such American indignance with the American air forces based in Turkey, Japan, and elsewhere in a 22-million-square-mile arc surrounding the USSR.)

Nearly fifty years later, hundreds of thousands of American military troops are stationed abroad in countless countries worldwide--sometimes against the will of the host nations and their reluctant leaders. And how many Russian troops are stationed on foreign soil this day, again?

For the life of me, I'm not sure how any American can at this point in time justify labeling Russia a malevolent aggressor-bear, without feeling the complete philosophical fool behind closed doors. Given all that Helian said here; given all that U.S. leaders have recently said around the world; given all that Moscow has wisely left unsaid since this war began, I'm at the point that I'm beginning to believe that American outrage [over Russian "adventurism" in Georgia] is about as justified as a harlot crying rape.

Indeed I can think of a good many times in world history when American troops stationed abroad paid bountiful dividends for the encouragement of democracy, financial stability, and freedom for perhaps millions upon millions of human beings--though the presence of American military "technicians" in Georgia with the fall of Georgian missiles on South Ossetia was not one of those moments.

Sadly, every time one of our politicians opens his mouth over this issue, it's as if we're painting ourselves into a philosophical corner from which we can't ultimately emerge without finding ourselves thoroughly embarrassed on the world-stage.

I say this as a longtime conservative voter and a U.S. military veteran who once freely donned uniform in that I might help defend against potential Soviet aggression.

In the end, I'm afraid that Moscow has done what it felt it needed do in order to defend it's national interests, and it won this time. Americans would understand and likely act accordingly if our own nation were surrounded by potential enemies and missiles. I think it's that simple, and we Americans are having an unusually hard time digesting the fact that we're not always right and not always the white knight in shining armor.

I can only pray that our leaders soon begin to look at this situation far more objectively than they have thus far, and that we endeavor to find a way to mend diplomatic fences with Moscow for the rapidly approaching day when we at last effectively recognize that we genuinely need one another in the war on terror.

Oh my freaking god. I watched the you tube thing. That isn’t even Roberts on the phone! There is even a slight accent. I am not kidding you. Listen to the first part real carefully. Pull up some past Roberts speeches on altavista.com or google.com and compare them yourselves.

Denver, I am proud of my country. Is it perfect heck no. But its better system than Russia has a present. We don’t have state controlled media, we don’t arrest people running for office to get them out of the way, and we don’t run over small democratic countries under some made up guise.

Russia is doing what Russia did in the 60’s only on a smaller scale (for now). Putin is a milder form of Stalin anyone can see that, I hope for you sake he stays a “milder form of stalin” (who was totally insane, like Hitler).

To be quite honest I am to the point that if Russia does not pull out. I would like to see Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, and several other countries attack Russia proper to give them a taste of their own medicine. If Russia continues to escalate then I think we (the US) should attack all Russian military units in Georgia.

It seems like the only think Russia understands is when we have had enough and start our battle cry. Like the Cuban missile crisis Russia knew we were not bluffing then they backed down. That is sad but it is the reality.

I strongly believe that we should not leave Georgia in a bind like we did Poland in the Cold War. We told them we would help them if they started to revolt, but we backed down and as a result thousand of Polish people were killed.

If Russia was attacking Georgia because it was attacking S. Odesa then we should attack Russia for attacking Chechnya. (Even though I believe Russia was right to attack Chechnya).

Again I just hope that Russia gets out of Georgia and let neutral peace keepers in. Maybe Sweden, Norway, France.

Russia seems to think just because we don’t hit our shoe on a desk, or invade a democratic country we will not do anything. If you haven’t been watching the news over the last 30 years (oh that’s right you have never had true news) the way we work is sometimes we will plead our case sometimes we will just hit hard.

It is so sad that it has come to this. We all have the same problems we hate to wake up in the morning, we don’t like it when our wife makes us take out the garbage, or when our kids school calls us at home. But a few dictators (yes I am speaking of putin also) has to make us hate each other to complete their objective.

There are a few things that our parents taught us that the leaders of the world should all live by.
1) don’t lie
2) don’t steal
3) and do onto others as you would have them do onto you.

Why cant we put people in power that live by these simple rules.

@ R.L.

"I say this as a longtime conservative voter and a U.S. military veteran who once freely donned uniform in that I might help defend against potential Soviet aggression."

I'm with you, R.L. I volunteered to serve in Vietnam (Xuan Loc, 1971-72) at a time when it was hardly a politically popular thing to do. I still believe we were fighting in a just cause, and I would gladly volunteer again in similar circumstances.

However, this time our country is in the wrong. All the arm chair super patriots who never lifted a finger for their country when the chips were down are now in full hue and cry, cheerleading for the next nuclear war. And for what? To protect a regime that used unguided rockets and other area effect weapons against an urban center full of civilians. We've seen samples on the news of the highly armed undisciplined "militia" thugs Georgia would have unleashed in South Ossetia to complete the job of ethnic cleansing if Russia hadn't stepped in to stop her. Based on the Kosovo precedent set by the United States and her allies, Russian intervention was perfectly justified and legal. I hope our citizens will see the light, because our political leadership has failed us this time.

BRAVO to Helenia!!! Your message is so right on!!!
All of it. But the ending summed it up well.

"Let us avoid entangling alliances. Let us cease poking sticks into the Russian hornets’ nest, risking our own annihilation and that of hundreds of millions of other innocents, based on a non-existent “right” to dictate the future of the former republics of the Soviet Union.

And RL
I also say Bravo to you.
I have often thought of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, when dealing with Georgia and Nato, and all the other US interests in the region.

And I do wish our president would just SHUT UP and not get us into any more trouble before he is GONE. I hate to say it, but his photo looks like a monkey, and the words don't much impress me as that of an intelligent Super-Power world leader.

And this is coming from another conservative voter.

One with a human heart and (hopefully) an intelligent mind who sees we are just one part of a very big diverse world, full of capable, intelligent, beautiful people who have a right to exist and pursue their own independent destiny.

I guess it's OK, for "US" to go clear across the world to invade a Sovereign nation (IRAQ) and murder it's leader, for pure personal reasons/vendetta, under the guise of WMD. I guess Russia's only mistake, is it should of said, I thought they had WMD. It worked well for "US". We massacred hundreds of thousands, of IRAQI's, displaced Millions, murdered, an Ally in Sad. Hussein, who fought against, and never allowed Terrorists to rear there ugly head in his country, and kept IRAN in check to say the least..We are now killing the same people Sadaam was killing. We thought Sadaam had WMD, because we gave them to him to use against the Kurds, wherupon we then promised him a campaign to blame the Iranians..Unfortunately we just continued to give him mixed signals, till W'U, came in office, and wanted him dead, to avenge Sad. Husseins, alleged planning an Assasination attempt on Senior G. Bush (Daddy). Only Russia has real reasons to fear an Alliance to the West by any of it's Bordering Countries, and acted like any other country would of acted. You cannot allow yourself to be outmaneuvered, and paint yourself in a corner, to be outflanked, and threatened in the future. Whose returning back to the Cold War? Can it be the US, for placing missiles, in Poland, aimed at Russia? What's that all about? why isn't that move discussed? Good Move Putin..At least your brain hasn't turned to mush, like most of the American Politicians, Intelligence Community, Candidates, and majority of illiterate population. Who are only driven by the immediate need for self gratification, and money, instead of long term planning, and aesthetics..

After observing what we have done in IRAQ, covert/black interrogation Centers, Guantanoma, etc.., it is nauseating, to listen to our “outrage” at Russia’s action in Georgia, which pales, as compared to the destruction, murder, and atrocities we committed in IRAQ. Bush is lucky, he can count on the Presses, naitivity, who can’t connect the dot’s, take a step back to see the big picture, and report objectively, instead, feeding again, on the need for, immediate gratification, and draw full attention to present happenings, with no understanding of Globulism…Just like the US, absolutely no understanding, respect, acknowledgement of History..If the US understood cultures, and History, it would not of F’d up so much in IRAQ.

REGARDING POST BY: Brian Dayton

I am just going to respond to your first post, your second one was a waste of my time.

When you state that Kosovo is "way different" to Georgian conflict, I guess you are right. Unlike the US invasion of Kosovo, Russia actually had internationally approved and signed peacekeeping role in South Ossetia. In which it was justified to retaliate after Georgia had launched rocket attacks during the night on the civilian town of South Ossetia killing 2000 civilians!

When you state "If China started to launch rockets onto Russian soil" that America would help. This makes me laugh, considering your response is typical of every American I have ever met (By the way I am Australian, we get plenty of your tourists) which is simply that the world is always on the brink of war and that the solution is every case is for America (the self appointed policeman of the universe) to step in and bomb the shit out of everyone. I think Americans are the most blood thirsty people I have ever met.

But just to fulfil your imagination that China would attack Russian soil, the only thing I would see happening is for the US to sit back, watch, sell weapons, make a profit, right up until the war is almost over, then step in to join the winner (much like it did during WW2). [ohhh and then the creative part, make some movie about how they are responsible for the victory]

“Bulling smaller countries tell them they would be a target for nuclear attacks if they allow a missile DEFENCE system on their soil”
Just because you label a missile “DEFENCE” doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed accordingly to “OFFENSSIVE USE”. A missile does not discriminate, its trajectory can be changed in seconds.
Whilst on the point, just have a look at the U.S. Department of “Defence”.... where most its work lately has been in “offense” through out the world eg Iraq, Afghanistan, etc

As for your comment "the only foreign soil we [the U.S.] ever kept was the ground we buried our soldiers in"... Well Brian, actually read up some history! What about Hawaii? where the US marines ousted the Hawaiian king. Even President Clinton apologized for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1993 but I guess that didn’t get much notice in US media.
OR what about when Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States and became a colony from 1898 to 1946?
OR the American occupation of the Philippines?
OR the 725 US military installations outside the US territory.

And just to note, it is usually an offering of other countries which provide for those buried US soldiers eg France, Germany, etc

P.S. In regard to your supervisor's KGB jokes, yeh a lot of Russian make jokes like that to play on American/western superstitions… and incase you forgot, as a US citizen you can be taken away and jailed by your very own CIA without so much as a trial. So make sure you get your grandpa to answer because he might win a vacation to a lovely bay in Cuba!

SOMEONE ONCE SAID, “INFORMATION IS POWER”, I GUESS THAT’S WHY WESTERN MEDIA IS OWNED BY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE.