Lately, McCain has been bashing Russia a lot. He's got a bad case of Reagan envy and dearly wishes he still had the Soviet Union to kick around.
He's also showing us how bad his militeristic, interventionist foreign policy would be.
A quick look at the geography of the geo-politics shows why.
The Afghan Factor
We have roughly 42,000 troops in Afghanistan and they all need to eat. Supplying that many troops requires over-land supply routes. We simply can't fly enough supplies in to sustain our mission there.
The map above shows Afghanistan and its neighbors. Unless you count the 50 mile border with China, 50 miles of the most inaccessible terrain on Earth, there are only 3 ways into Afghanistan. You have to go through Pakistan, Iran or take the Northern Route through one of the other "Stans". There are problems with each.
Pakistan - Just about everything we ship to Afghanistan currently goes through Pakistan. It's worked for 7 years, but the ouster of Musharraf makes things very complicated. The new leadership is weak and uncertain. It could turn against the US or just loses control of parts of the country. If that happens, our supply lines through Pakistan could dry up.
We'd have to turn to one of the 2 remaining routes.
Iran - Yeah, right. Ain't gonna happen.
The Northern Route - To the North are Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kygyzstan and Kazakhstan. All suspect regimes and loyal US allies as long as we keep the the military aid flowing.
To move supplies through these countries we would need at least the tacit permission of the Russians. Logistically, we'd probably have to actually stage supplies in Russian before moving them south.
This leaves McCain with a big Russian problem. If Pakistan goes to hell or even just becomes slightly more unstable, our entire presence in Afghanistan will be dependent on Russia's good will.
A Bad Case Of Reagan Nostalgia
Republicans love Reagan. McCain wants to be Reagan. Reagan was tough on the Soviet Union. McCain wants to be tough on Russia. Simple as that.
Except that times have changed a lot since the 80s.
Is it really a good idea to antagonize Russia when our two on-going wars are in their backyard? We're 7,000 miles away. We have to spend billions a week to project power the Russians have by virtue of being next door.
Let's kick them out of the G8, then ask them to help us resupply our troops in Afghanistan.
Let's stir up trouble on their southern and western borders, then ask them to help punish Iran's nuclear ambitions.
So far we've depended on Russian interests in the area overlapping with our interests. The day that ceases to be true, we will have bought ourselves a whole lot of new troubles.
McBush's Foreign Policy
Bush encourages a Georgian show of force, then sends them a $1B pay-off. McCain says "Today we are all Georgian." and talks about our vital interests there.
More of the Same.
Bush talks about "Axis of Evil". McCain says "Corrupted by power".
More of the Same.
Bush wants to go it alone. McCain will make sure no one wants to go with us at all.
More of the Same.
Bush picked Cheney. McCain has his Sarah (won't be a real diary if I didn't work her in somehow).
More of the Same.
We can't afford 4 more years of this idiocy. People who think our Military Power is the sum total of our Power are destroying us.