A quick note on Russia and Georgia

Recall that the Russians objected to the invasion of Iraq. Recall that Putin made it particularly clear that if the US thought that fighting what it called "terrorism" justified the invasion of a sovereign nation that posed no immediate danger to the US, then Russia would assume the same "right" in what it viewed as threats to it's sovereignty and national integrity.

The attack in Georgia was a fulfillment of that ideology and the chicken hawks in Washington have no one to blame for it but themselves. Furthermore the US has been spending the last couple of years giving the Russians the middle finger as they meddled in the internal politics of former Soviet states in order to get "pro-western" governments into power. And let us not forget the plan to put a NATO missile "defence" ring, supposedly to protect western Europe from terrorists, right around Russia. This is something that the Russians have strenuously objected to. So 90% of the blame for the current situation in Georgia falls in the lap of the US and the remainder in the lap of the Georgians who thought that toying with Russia was a brilliant idea. Is it good to ya?

Update 11:58 AM

Oh and from the LA Times:

At a news briefing for reporters in Beijing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said the United States was "100% focused on solving this peacefully. . . . We respect Georgia's territorial integrity and we expect Russia to do the same."

Oh just about the same respect shown for the territorial integrity of Serbia? Yeah, OK.