(Untitled)

[radicalrising]

McCain warns Russians of "severe, long-term negative consequences"Ok, I admit, I don't know the whole story about Georgia except that we trained their military and they are pro American. But what balls do we have to tell Russia what to do? I mean, didn't Georgia attack South Ossetia first? And shit, Georgia is a democratically elected government

Comments

a couple things spring to mind

[victor_szasz]

1) Russia isn't communist anymore, they switched the capatalism a little over a decade ago
2) American politicians notoriously are not good at sticking their noses out of other people's business. Are you familiar with the mess that is the Iraq situation?
3) There seems to be some debate about who shot first. Most of those saying it was Georgia are from Russia. The rest of the world keeps reporting that Russia kicked things off and then kept going when Georgia called for a cease fire.

How's that work for you?

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[radicalrising]

Good thanks. My brother who was a Russian history major and actually went to school in St. Petersburg sent me this article:

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Re: a couple things spring to mind

[radicalrising]

Mikhail Gorbachev: A path to peace in the Caucasus
Mikhail Gorbachev - 8/13/2008 5:21 am

MOSCOW -- The past week's events in South Ossetia are bound to shock and pain anyone. Already, thousands of people have died, tens of thousands have been turned into refugees, and towns and villages lie in ruins. Nothing can justify this loss of life and destruction.

The roots of this tragedy lie in the decision of Georgia's separatist leaders in 1991 to abolish South Ossetian autonomy. This turned out to be a time bomb for Georgia's territorial integrity. Each time successive Georgian leaders tried to impose their will by force -- both in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, where the issues of autonomy are similar -- it only made the situation worse.

Nevertheless, it was still possible to find a political solution. For some time, relative calm was maintained in South Ossetia. The peacekeeping force composed of Russians, Georgians and Ossetians fulfilled its mission.

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[radicalrising]

Through all these years, Russia has continued to recognize Georgia's territorial integrity. Clearly, the only way to solve the South Ossetian problem on that basis is through peaceful means. Indeed, in a civilized world, there is no other way

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[victor_szasz]

Going to assume this is a different Mikhail Gorbachev than the one I'm thinking of...seeing as he died in 1991.

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[victor_szasz]

Oh, never mind. I thought his name at the top of the article indicated he was supposed to have wrote it.

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[radicalrising]

Mikhail Gorbachev died? What?

back in 1991

[victor_szasz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev

Re: back in 1991

[victor_szasz]

Nobody's perfect.

Re: back in 1991

[radicalrising]

if you scroll down the link you have there, you'll see a picture of him from 2007. His wife died in '91.

or you can go here

http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/gnames-nf/Gorbachev+Mikhail

Not trying to beat a dead horse here but he's alive.

Re: back in 1991

[victor_szasz]

Hmmmm, so the available evidence would seem to display.

Re: a couple things spring to mind

[radicalrising]

Mikhail Gorbachev is not dead.

[victor_szasz]

Afraid so.