Russia strikes back...

[Cuda68]

No sweat - I'm a crusty old fart who knows what he wants to say - I just don't write it the way I think it.

[Bet51987]

Goodbye Georgia....We hardly new ya. Maybe if the U.S. had better leaders that actually knew what liberty and democracy really stood for, or maybe if NATO was a truly unified force, then we may have been able to save you from being assimilated by the new USSR...The Russian Borg.

Putin wins.

Bettina

[Cuda68]

Goodbye Georgia....We hardly new ya. Maybe if the U.S. had better leaders that actually knew what liberty and democracy really stood for, or maybe if NATO was a truly unified force, then we may have been able to save you from being assimilated by the new USSR...The Russian Borg.

Putin wins.

Bettina

Don't count on it, some pretty tough talk is going on:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_ ... ia_georgia

[Dakatsu]

Goodbye Georgia....We hardly new ya. Maybe if the U.S. had better leaders that actually knew what liberty and democracy really stood for, or maybe if NATO was a truly unified force, then we may have been able to save you from being assimilated by the new USSR...The Russian Borg.

Putin wins.

Bettina

I agree, it seems more and more like Russia is trying to become the "Union of Russian Socialist Republics". No matter what you think about terrorism, I don't think anyone here would want to see that kind of thing.

Even if Russia leaves Georgia, you never know what they could do to their government (puppet governments again, anybody?)

I wish there was an easy way solution for this, as like I said, if NATO moves in to defend, that could easily start another World War...

[MD-1118]

Either way it doesn't really matter anymore due to the black hole. =P

Hey, maybe someone INTENTIONALLY made that black hole so they wouldn't have to deal with everyone's fussin' and whinin' anymore. *facepalm* Wish I'd thought of that.

[Ford Prefect]

After giving Georgia a thorough spanking militarily and making their point about who should be friendly to them if they like it or not it looks like Russia may be done for now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7555858.stm
If Georgia dumps President Saakashvili and behaves itself then they may be allowed to continue flying their own flag, minus South Ossetia and Abkhazia of course.

[Bet51987]

After giving Georgia a thorough spanking militarily and making their point about who should be friendly to them if they like it or not it looks like Russia may be done for now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7555858.stm
If Georgia dumps President Saakashvili and behaves itself then they may be allowed to continue flying their own flag, minus South Ossetia and Abkhazia of course.

This "spanking" also tells me that Georgia should begin phasing out democracy and embrace the communist way of life. The western form of "come late to the party" protection for new democracy's is totally useless....and the Russians knew just that.

Bee

[Dakatsu]

If Georgia dumps President Saakashvili and behaves itself then they may be allowed to continue flying their own flag, minus South Ossetia and Abkhazia of course.

This would be entirely unacceptable, and if he does have to step down, he better be allowed to be in their next election.

This \"spanking\" also tells me that Georgia should begin phasing out democracy and embrace the communist way of life. The western form of \"come late to the party\" protection for new democracy's is totally useless....and the Russians knew just that.

Actually, I think Georgia is coming more and more on our side, as besides the fact they want to join the European Union and NATO, they are going to leave the CIS (an ex-soviet union group thing) on the 12th. To me, this is good news.

[Bet51987]

Actually, I think Georgia is coming more and more on our side, as besides the fact they want to join the European Union and NATO, they are going to leave the CIS (an ex-soviet union group thing) on the 12th. To me, this is good news.

With Russia being that close it doesn't matter if Georgia becomes a member of the EU or Nato. If Nato places strategic weapons there, Russia will place them in Cuba. In fact, the president of Georgia was surprised that the west abandoned them especially since the U.N. views the two breakaway provinces as really belonging to Georgia... but then again major powers could care less what the U.N. thinks.

Like it or not, those two breakaway provinces are part of Russia.

Bee

[Ford Prefect]

Let's not forget that modern Russia is a democracy. No less so than Iraq where not all parties were permitted to field candidates either. In fact the last few Russian elections were given foreign observer clearance as being \"free and fair\" which is more than can be said of that great U.S. ally Pakistan.
Another thing not to lose sight of was that Georgia started the shooting war by firing artillery at Russian \"peacekeeper\" positions. Perhaps in a colossal miscalculation President Saakashvili expected NATO cavalry to come riding to the rescue. In any case I doubt he will survive the next election since his belligerence toward Russia has brought his country to the edge of ruin. Not the sign of a brilliant leader. Russia doesn't care if he resigns, loses an election or just becomes such a lame duck that he is essentially powerless as long as Georgia drops the NATO rhetoric and becomes a \"better\" neighbour.

[Spidey]

Russia is a democracy…do tell.

I have a bridge to sell you.

[Ford Prefect]

Like I said it is more a democracy than Pakistan by a power of ten yet Pakistan is in the U.S. good books. The method of selecting a leader has never been a measure of how friendly the U.S. can be to a country. The democracy/communism smokescreen doesn't hold water.

Whoa! How's that for a mixed metaphor?