As the conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia threatens to explode into all-out war between Georgia and Russia, Republican presidential nominee John McCain weighed in. "What's most critical now," McCain said, "is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces." But given his confused and contradictory statements about expelling Russia from the G8, what may be most critical to American voters is whether John McCain understands what he's talking about.
According to the AP, McCain this morning called for a U.S. diplomatic initiative in conjunction with America's European partners to halt the violence:
He said the U.S. should work with the European Union to put diplomatic pressure on Russia and help establish an independent peace keeping force in South Ossetia.
But McCain first needs to explain whether or not that pressure includes his on-again/off-again promise to kick Russia out the G8 group of industrialized nations.
Last November, McCain penned an article in Foreign Affairs in which he announced his intent to expel Russia from the G8. In a March 26th speech, he made his plan crystal clear:
"We should start by ensuring that the G-8, the group of eight highly industrialized states, becomes again a club of leading market democracies: it should include Brazil and India but exclude Russia."
But facing almost universal condemnation from foreign policy analysts who characterized booting Russia from the G8 as logistically impossible and just plain "dumb," the McCain campaign quickly disowned it. On June 25th, Reuters reported that an anonymous McCain adviser claimed the policy towards Russia was no longer operative:
He also dismissed McCain's comment last October on Russia and the G-8 as "a holdover from an earlier period," adding: "It doesn't reflect where he is right now."
Yet one month later, John McCain was back on the trail, calling once again for Moscow to get the heave-ho. Appearing on ABC This Week with George Stephanopolous on July 27, McCain insisted it was back on:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you about your position to exclude Russia from the G-8. How are you going to get that done? Every other G-8 nation is against it.
MCCAIN: Well, you have to take positions whether other nations agree or not, because you have to do what's best for America...
No doubt, McCain is right that the next president must do "what's best for America." Georgia is a U.S. ally, one which President Bush has pushed to add to the ranks of NATO. Meanwhile, the United States is pressing to deploy the U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe, including in a non-existent nation John McCain recently called "Czechoslovakia."
So as the fighting in Georgia becomes a election here, John McCain needs to be crystal clear. When it comes to Washington's relations with Moscow and the G8, is Russia in or out?
** Crossposted at Perrspectives **