Right now, there is a tenuous cease fire between Russia and Georgia, although Russia shows no signs of leaving Georgia any time soon. And why should they? They sit on the UN Security Council, so they can veto any resolutions…

It’s clear, to me at least, that Senator Obama’s inexperience also covers the art of campaigning.

But, unfortunately, I don’t see any real chance that’ll happen. If the pro-green/anti-capitalist Luddites realize that it would also hurt their ideological sugar daddy Russia, they will just redouble their efforts to squash any drilling.

“Winning” by outspending them on defense and such is not going to be possible in this new world order we are looking at.

Not that I am disagreeing, but how fast could we flood the oil markets to the point where Russia isn’t getting so rich?? Granted this would take some serious spinal capacity from our present leadership, which I seriously doubt they have, but we could easily double our capacity, and it really wouldn’t take that long. If the US added 3 million barrels a day, which is still quite aways below what we use to pump out of the ground in the 80s, you would see oil prices drop pretty drastically. Let’s start looking at uncapping some wells, and fixing some “hurricane” damaged oil rigs, and see what this country could do, neither of these things would take that long to correct. There is some serious money to be made in this present climate, I say let’s let Americans make that money. Just 1 million extra barrels a day would translate into 100million dollars per day, and there are a ton of independant oil producers out there whose hands are tied to do our government. It would be good for everyone if we stopped tying our own hands. – Lorica

“Unfortunately, that sounds remarkably like saying “they shouldn’t have raped that girl, but she did kinda deserve it because she wore that short skirt.”

I would say it’s more like “I would be careful about threatening the gang leader on your street…. he’ll shoot you in broad daylight”.

Which is essentially what Russia did. Russia is definitely the bad guy and doesn’t need a reason to create problems. So why give him one? Be smart, be careful, make sure you’ve got proper backup BEFORE you make your move, not after.

NC Cop: I don’t think we should abandon them. However, we should make it clear that we’re not going to be dragged into every little skirmish with Russia. We need to be smarter about how to push Russia back in the hole, and so do our allies.

Sev- I agree we need a longer term solution of dealing with Russia. I have been VERY uncomfortable with how friendly Bush has been towards Putin. Hopefully this will wake him up a bit.

The problem with allying ourselves too closely with nations still smoldering over Russia is that we might be dragged into the coals.

So we should abandon them and say “good luck”? I think not.

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

John F. Kennedy

These words were just as true then as they are now. If we fail to live up to them, God help this planet.

Granted, Russia has been 10 times worse, but I’m not sure I want to ally myself with a country that pokes a big bully with a stick, and then is surprised when they get pummeled.

Unfortunately, that sounds remarkably like saying “they shouldn’t have raped that girl, but she did kinda deserve it because she wore that short skirt.”

Georgia was dumb to step into the trap Russia and Putin laid for them, giving them an excuse to step in, but that’s what the cagey Putin setup. Give Georgia enough provocation that they respond and then use that as pretext to justify and rationalize your brutality that you were planning on performing. It in no way makes Georgia the bad guy. Being pressed in that way is a tough issue to resolve, and yes, it was a trap, but that makes Putin doubly responsible and reprehensible.

One thing that is of concern, if we get into another Cold War, remember how we “won” the last one, we basically outspent the Russians on defense, their state run economy couldn’t keep up and imploded, which was the beauty of the Reagan doctrine. Things are a bit different now, the US has grossly higher national debt, and is saddled with a lot more socialist “entitlement” programs that eat up money and hamstring the economy, plus energy prices and food prices are hurting the US economy. Now let’s look at Mother Russia, flush with oil cash, acting to take control of any and all non-Russian controlled oil resources (like bombing pipelines thru Georgia). Russia is drunk with cash, and is probably in a position, with world energy demand the way it is, to easily outspend the US. “Winning” by outspending them on defense and such is not going to be possible in this new world order we are looking at. Russia is despotic and totalitarian, and rich, and getting richer.

The very definition of “not good.”

I agree with you. Bush’s response was letter perfect.

Granted, Russia has been 10 times worse, but I’m not sure I want to ally myself with a country that pokes a big bully with a stick, and then is surprised when they get pummeled. Apparently, the white house has been warning Georgia that this would happen.

I actually (& strangely) agree wholeheartedly with the current Bush plan of sending in nonmilitary US aid. I believe that Russia will avoid killing american nonmilitary personnel. They will avoid war with us (as much as we should avoid war with them). The problem with allying ourselves too closely with nations still smoldering over Russia is that we might be dragged into the coals.

Obama followed through on his pledge to catch some gnaaaaarly waves:
A Secret Service agent asked Honolulu lifeguards about the 2- to 3-foot surf conditions and requested that a lifeguard accompany the Democratic senator into the water, “which w…

I also see where the Russians have threatened Poland now, for agreeing to host part of the ABM system. No doubt, Poland watched the Georgian drama unfold and realized that Russia is back, and as mean as ever.

Russia Threatens Nuke Attack On Poles

MOSCOW – A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

No doubt Obama will express his deep disappointment in such a statement. That’ll show ‘em.