Because not all wars are created equal (UPDATED)

In response to Russian armor rolling into the Republic of Georgia, Democracy Now, A.N.S.W.E.R., Code Pink and other left-wing anti-war groups have all sprung into action to protest this naked imperialist aggression that would appear to be largely about oil. Nah, just kidding…. They ain’t doin' jack-squat.

For a nice wrap-up of this 1979 flashback, bop on over to KT’s place here. In summary: Russia has achieved, to date, none of its strategic objectives with the added benefit of pissing-off the rest of the world. Bonus points for doing it during the Olympics. You’re doing a heckava job, Poot.

A few years back when Putin appeared to be returning(?) to the dark side we expressed some disappointment as Putin… like, really seemed to enjoy hanging out at Bush’s ranch in Crawford. As if, rolling in a cowboy hat, clearing brush and eating smoked ribs in West Texas somehow enlightened Putin to the values of classic liberalism.

Occasional commenter and dear friend, “Pablo”, looked at us and said, “Dude, he’s KGB”. As in, present tense. As in, those people don’t change. As in, ever…. Our bad.

UPDATE #1: And for a somewhat contrary opinion, VDH thinks it was a brilliant maneuver… Flex your power, scare your neighbors, watch the West do nothing… Ukraine?

And everyone’s favorite commie, Mikhail Gorbchev chimes-in and blames, yep, the Georgians.

We don’t claim to be experts in anything that goes on in that part of the world but it seems pretty clear to us the Georgian rocket attack on Tskhinvali on August 7 was merely the pretext needed for the Russian military to roll and their apparent defiance of a brokered truce belies any good intentions of coming to the aid of a neighbor and appears to be even a flimsier excuse than the put-down of any incipient Islamo-terrorism in Afghanistan some 29 years ago.

For all the hope that was held in the wake of the fall of the wall 19 years ago, when it appeared that Russia might possibly move their country and political system into that of mainstream Western democracies, it is becoming more and more evident that backward-looking grudge-holding, paranoia and imperialism be they of the Tsarist or Communist variety are hard habits to break.