Yesterday at the Aspen Institute, John McCain made another "oops," as he called the Georgia v. Russia conflict the "first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War."

Uh, Senator, what about the Gulf War?

Or 9/11?

Or the Iraq War?

Russia invades Georgia (the country, not the
southern US state next to Alabama).

McCain=Bush, Cheney lead the sabre rattling.
There must be consequences, there could be,
ummmmm, international wrist slapping,
economic sanctions, G8 sans Russia G7,
another war ?

Bush speaks of sovereign countries invaded,
democratically elected governments in danger
of being overthrown.

MSM maps of Georgia appear on the TV screen and
in almost all these maps a squiggly black line
in southern Georgia, it's an oil pipeline !

Hundreds, thousands ? have been killed in this
conflict but now it's serious business, oil is
involved and a oil pipeline no less !

Currently the mainstream media and our politicians are busy lambasting Russia for its invasion of Georgia.  I feel the need to point out a lengthy stream of reasons why they have no right to be critical of Russia in this matter.

1.  Georgia started it.  The regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been self-ruled since no more than 4 years after Georgia itself gained independence.  Georgia invaded viciously in a surprise attack timed perfectly to coincide with the beginning of the Olympics.  And with incredible audacity, Georgia's U.S. educated leader Mikhail Saakashvili claims that Russia, who merely responded to the Georgian aggression, timed it all that way.  

2.  Georgia is denying the right of South Ossetia to secede, even though it is itself nothing more than a secessionist state... a former Russian republic that was ruled by Russia for most of the past 200 years until the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Russia let Georgia secede without a major invasion, but now Georgia refuses to recognize the right of secession for South Ossetia and Abkhazia?  Why does one have the right to secession but not the other?    

I am no expert in Russia-Georgia politics, but the talk coming out of that part of the world over the past few days reminded me of something I wrote about four years ago.,,

When talk of invading Iraq first started heating up, my first reaction was that it was just wrong. Not because I knew a lot about Iraq, but it just didn't fit with my "Let's set a good example" policy. By invading with no direct provocation, we were telling the world "if you don't like something, it's ok to do something about it." And we've had been fighting that rationale for decades.

Well, looks like Putin and friends are now using the Bush-McCain doctrine to their advantage.  More.

G***amn Putin.  It's everywhere.  Politics stop at this point, this could swiftly become an international crisis if it doesn't cease immediately.  Given that I heard nothing in recent days that could be seen as provocation, I really have to wonder why Russia would suddenly decide to invade Georgia.  OK, so there's tension between them over a Georgian region(South Ossetia), but that can't be what set this off since there have been no new developments on that front.  Since this is also the first day of the Olympics, I wonder if they're hoping that people in general won't pay much attention.

I suggest turning to the wire services to get up-to-the-minute information

The strange thing is - I'm really starting to understand McCain's screwed up logic. I think he breaks things down to a microscopic level and allows himself to reach conclusions there without paying attention to the vast space of facts and issues that surround the one speck of knowledge he examines.

 As I was driving my  18 wheeler  (yes, if it wasnt for me and the other big trucks, you would have no food, no computers, no cell phones, no clothes, etc.  bluntly you would be bored, hungry, naked, and on foot), I happened to drive through a small border town in Texas.  
 Needless to say I was quite shocked to see that both the United States Post Office, and the county courthouse, were BOTH flying the MEXICAN flag.
 This would not have surprised me if I was on the Mexican border near Laredo or Del Rio, but I was on U.S. 54,  at the top of the panhandle.

Counseling and medication weren’t enough to help Laef Fox recover from his grim war experience in Iraq, and drugs and alcohol didn’t work either, so he tried making a movie instead.

There's a new Documentary out, that was shown in a premeir private showing on July 4th in Denver.

As Michael Moore pointed out in Fahrenheit 9/11, when the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. didn’t invade Mexico, and for good reason.  Most of us agree that the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq was a preposterous and overtly-contrived reaction to the events of September 11, 2001.  Virtually everyone in the Bush/Cheney inner circle knew how ridiculous this would appear in the eyes of American citizens, even those bent on revenge against some unseen middle-eastern enemy, and therefore spared no effort in orchestrating an a deceptive scheme to make this happen.

There's someone who gets it:

Rudd has said the Iraq deployment has made Australia more of a target for terrorism.

BENEATH THE SPIN    • ERIC L. WATTREE

It kinda Makes You Wanna go, Hmmmmm

President George W. Bush’s former press secretary, Scott McClellan, has shocked both the Bush administration and the world by revealing in his new book, "What Happened" that the Bush administration has been manipulating the American people, and invasion of Iraq was based on a farce.

Oh, really? Well, what else is new?

I can't believe a diarist on this site seriously recommended launching an attack on the Burmese military regime.

Maybe we should expect that from Time magazine but not from Daily Kos.

I'm no expert on Southeast Asia, nor am I an expert on disaster relief. But it just does not seem credible that a military attack on the Burmese regime given the current situation would do anything but lead to countless more deaths. If you think the logistics for international NGOs are bad now, wait till we drop the first bomb.

Many commenters on the diary above have ably explained why the idea of invading Burma, or targeting the country's military rulers, is so preposterous. But I think there's a deeper point about how the disaster in Burma has been framed that helps explain why the situation has become so awful.

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MYANMAR JUNTA HOLDS UP RELIEF EFFORTS

FOR POWER OR PROFITS, GENERALS STONEWALL

Colonial, Imperial & Corporatist Powers Rattle Their Swords

Meanwhile chaos reigns even in Yangon (Rangoon). Millions remain homeless and destitute in the coastal provinces. Whether the strategy of exaggerating the crisis, if it is exaggeration, and feigning military action, if it is just a feint, will work remains to be seen.


"US diplomat: 100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone"

"France urges UN to force cyclone aid on Myanmar"

"EU Expands Economic Sanctions against Junta"


compleat links to aid organizations on the ground now in burmese disaster areas: donate now online

[continued]
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Hillaryclinton.com has invaded my.barackobama.com homepage. I'm furious! When I click "view blogs" I get her homepage!

This is not a diary for arguing over the whether the invasion of Iraq was justified or not.  Rather, this is a piece about what happens when chickenhawks get hold of the military and live out their repressed fantasies by giving it an unrealistic mission, holding it to an impractical timeline, and generally using its soldiers as human chess pieces.

Call it overconfidence; call it arrogance, but none of the shortages I was experiencing five years ago this week really bothered me at the time.  They were planted firmly in the back of my mind, but I think I was just too busy to worry about them.  It’s only when I look back that I see how poorly planned and resourced the invasion of Iraq was from the start.

Friends, since my last post I’ve been thinking hard about America and its long-suffering people. I’m convinced there is only one solution: immediately invade and occupy it!

Yes, the rest of the world needs to come together in a mighty Coalition of the Willing and, singing God Bless America, send a huge armada of vessels steaming towards the Brave New World. Its mission: to set the American people free!

They, because of some unforeseen flaws in their Constitution, have suffered a bloodless coup. Yep, since Bush took over he has been running the show over there and using the world’s biggest army to hell-raise all over the place. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. The American people have suffered greatly as a result and have watched  in horror as their country has gone from one that was admired to one that is now hated and feared by many. And they don’t know what to do about it!

I used hyperbole in writing the title. I was not attacked physically, rather, verbally. Actually, I was verbally attacked by a whole bunch of people. I really need to explain what hyperbole is and to be more skilled at making sure that people know it is hyperbole. Lesson learned.
I posted a diary entitled, "The United States Needs to Be Invaded and Occupied." I was attempting to use hyperbole to get people's attention back to the war in Iraq, which has slipped further into the background. A few people "got it." Most people did not. However, one of the comments came from a supporter of the American Family Association. In fact, he kindly posted it on his bulletin board. Of course he only post the title and two paragraphs and did not contend with the rest of the post. I'm hoping that I get a chance to respond on his bulletin board without his convenient editing.

First, one needs to have a clear picture of the commentator. Here's the disclaimer for the site:

On his recent trip to Iraq, John McCain acted relentlessly upbeat about the outlook there, even as he mangled basic facts and inspired mockery from some in the media. That made me realize that McCain sounds more like the notorious "Baghdad Bob" every day.

Baghdad Bob, of course, was Saddam Hussein's wacky minister of information, now immortalized on t-shirts, Web sites and even a DVD for his optimistic, if fanciful, statements about Iraq's triumph over the American infidels, right up to the point we toppled his boss's statue.  Baghdad Bob, real name Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, somehow survived and later worked as an  Arab TV commentator, sans trademark beret.

But McCain as "Bob"? Consider that in the past two weeks there was a spike in violence, explosions and casualties in Iraq, yet McCain barely seemed to notice.