The farther Russia's tanks roll into Georgia, the more the world is
beginning to see the reality of Vladimir Putin's Napoleonic ambitions. Having
consolidated his authoritarian transition as Prime Minister with a figurehead
President, Mr. Putin is now pushing to reassert Russian dominance in Eurasia.
Ukraine is in his sights, and even the Baltic states could be threatened if he's
allowed to get away with it. The West needs to draw a line at Georgia.
No matter who fired the first shot last week in the breakaway Georgian
region of South Ossetia, Moscow is using the separatist issue as an
excuse to demolish Georgia's military and, if possible, depose its
democratically elected government.
Putin obviously doesn't view himself as a citizen of the world as Obama does unless he's in charge of it. This is a reminder that the world is a dangerous place and that some tribes will never let other tribes live in peace.
If Russia is allowed to consolidate power in Georgia, it can intimidate other former Soviet countries into abandoning the West without firing a shot. Don't count on the wimps in the EU, who will rationalize it all, while blaming the U.S. from under their beds. They get about 25% of their oil from Russia anyway, which should be an object lesson on why we should develop our own resources.
Putin has also made strategic military agreements with the Islamo-Fascists in Iran that are normally natural enemies of Russia, which puts them in a de-facto war with the U.S. and Israel already with Iran as their proxy. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" is apt here although that relationship will go south in a messy way at some point. They also have weapons and cooperation agreements with Venezuela and Ecuador on this side of the pond.
At least Russia has reduced its political prisoner population; opting instead to just assassinate the opposition all over the world.
In short, it's naive to think that Putin is up to anything other than a brute expansion of Russia's influence. The American radical left which includes Obama's circle of friends, is no doubt encouraged by this indirect challenge to the west. A weaker America is justified by the moral equivalence they see between us and every evil in the world, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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