against its "own"people seems to be ignored for the sake of the shame free Sabre rattling experience that accompanies our reliving of Cold War nostalgia. I envision thousands of wheelchair bound dubya dubya too veterans shaking fists at the tv screen. The United states invades other nations at will. Our nations hands are the bloodiest around. Moral/ethical arguments from hypocrites have NO weight under the discerning light of reason. What seems to be striking is the absence of compassion for human life on every continent. We casually excuse the spilling of the blood of innocents that our weapons spill, but our outraged at the same acts by others. Some of us are itching for McCain to get into the mix so that we can kill them over there and feel good about ourselves without having to improve our economy, health care system and public schools- you know the true indicators of our level of civilization. But alas, here we go, like schoolboys dropping their math books on the floor because they;ve heard the bell that sounds 'recess'. Its like 'Risk' for cowards

Ok, so lets no ignore Georgia's actions. They attacked South Ossettia. Why? Because their border positions had been attacked by SO rebels. Where did the seperatists get their guns? Russia. Do the seperatists consider themselves part of Georgia? No.

In other words, it was a civil war which Russia intervened in within 24 hours, because they didn't want the side that they had backed to lose.

Then they bombed military installations all across Georgia, unrelated to the immediate conflict.

If we're both going to vote for Obama, and hope for intelligence\sanity in our foreign policy, we can't take the side of countries who conduct their foreign relations and wars through lies.

".....we can't take the side of countries who conduct their foreign relations and wars through lies. "

Where is it written in the US Constitution that we have to take sides on every petty dispute around the world? Perhaps you have an agenda here?

Of course we don't have to take sides in every conflict. But we had chosen this "side" long before war broke out.

Of course I have an agenda. The spread of democracy through nonviolent means, and the weakening of dictatorships that lead us around by the nose because of our addiction to their energy supplies.

Georgia played the fool and fell into Russia's trap by sending their troops in, but Russia's actions are clearly aimed at pushing back against the idea of a pro-western, pro-democracy society in Georgia; not at containing "Georgian Aggression." To believe otherwise is to be ignorant to the facts which led up to this conflict.

Georgia has serious ramifications for eastern Europe, and emerging human rights there. Despite our continued screw-ups elsewhere, we need to be able to stand up for countries who are on a path towards respecting fundamental human rights, and against those who don't.

America is the worst country to entrust global stability to, except for all the others.

To compare Iraq (brutal dictatorship with several UN mandates broken and internal ethnic cleansing, along with chemical weapons used against Iran and its own citizens) and Kosovo (Rape and ethnic cleansing by Serbs) to Georgia is ignorant. The two are not in the same league. When we leave Iraq (and we will) it will be far more free, along with a real shot of their citizens able to decide their own futures, than Georgia will have if the Russians stay there.

Yes, many have suffered but they at least have a future. Imagine the future of those countries if Saddam and Milosovich had stayed in power.

Regardless, the right thing to do is to oppose Russia's obvious power play. Yes, they were waiting for some provokation. Not even a modern army (and certainly not theirs) could have mobilized so quickly without a high state of readiness. They had been waiting for this and were involved with its staging.

Hey JW-

great post! You are spot on.

"America is the worst country to entrust global stability to, except for all the others."

I couldn't agree more.

I remain skeptical of JW's philosophy about the divine, unquestionable wonderfulness of "pro-western, pro-democracy" "respecting of fundamental human rights" culture that he is immersed in and wants to share with the world. The self-serving nature of that philosophy does not appear to be appreciated.

Just because he qualifies the active spreading of his culture as "non-violent" doesn't mean it isn't coercive or harmful to others. I respectfully suggest we allow changes around the world to happen naturally without purposeful intervention. Yes, that might take longer, perhaps even longer than your lifetime (horrors! how could we be that patient?). But if you truly believe your system is the best for everyone, then let them find it for themselves and stop taking sides and propping up your friends in areas of conflict. It would reduce the resistance in those invested in the status quo and almost surely reduce violence, save lives and decrease the misery caused by war.