Bet you thought I was talking about Russia, huh? This situation reminds me of the conversation that an administration official had with reporter Ron Suskind where he stated:

"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...."

So, what happens when you have squandered the military might, international good will and moral authority, and have driven the economy so deep into the ground that you wouldn't be able to afford any oil you struck on the way to the center of the earth? What happens when you egg on a former satellite country of the soviet union to spit in putin's eye and russia comes down on you? How are you "creating new realities by acting" when you, as the "leaders of the new american empire" have no real ability, options, or plan from which to act? Perhaps you, the bush administration, are not the new line of caesars who wrestle the gods and giants of the world to create your "unique" view of the perfect world? It seems, more likely, that you are a bunch of drunken cowboys with delusions of grandeur and competence who seem to have a more spiritual relationship with stalin than caesar.

BTW, when Rice said, "This is not 1968 … where Russia can invade its neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it...." was she not thinking? Good god! Jon Stewart on the daily show should be sending her a thank you card for that gem! Could she not see the obvious parallels between Iraq and the current Georgian crisis???