Russian Attacks on Georgia Shows Broken American Foreign Affairs/Military Abroad; U.S. Military is Depleted/Damaged;

Russian Attacks on Georgia Shows Broken American Foreign Affairs/Military Abroad; U.S. Military is Depleted/Damaged; & we’re in Danger of Not Being Able to Help Allies From Aggressors:
By Marc Chamot

“Russia’s attacks on Georgia is a clear message to America, NATO and former satellite states of the former Soviet Union, mess with the West you’ll die with the rest.”

Russia’s attack on Georgia also shows that America is in deep trouble on the world stage. Russia’s message to the former Soviet Union states, “See, America can’t defend you!” Our image as a democracy world defender may be tarnished for years to come.

“Under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has never done anything to show the world as to why they should be members of the lucrative WTO (World Trade Organization). WTO boosted China’s economy and the Russians got jealous and angry, they saw what WTO did for China and the Russian leaders felt that the US and the West were intentionally keeping their economic nation down.”

A Dangerous Scenario:

Iran is amassing a huge convoy and military might just south of their border with Turkey. They are preparing a massive airlift of troops and supplies to Syria. Turkey has just authorized Iran the use of their airspace for this massive mission to Syria, while. Iraqi airspace is unavailable because the United States has no flight zones over Iraq. Syria is amassing troops north of the Israeli border and waiting for Iran’s massive airlift, an attack on Israel in imminent. The United states can only watch in horror for this scenario developing, and has no way to act.

The 2008 Olympics in China is over and China is massing warships off the straits of Formosa or Taiwanese Strait. A Chinese invasion on an American ally, Taiwan is very imminent. And America sadly must sit idly by, and see another ally succumb to an aggressor.

America’s quest of being the policeman and sheriff over the world may have come back and bit US in our rear ends.

Our U.S. military is spread thin and is pretty much depleted/spent worldwide to protect our allies from aggressors. Iraq was pretty much the tipping point in the weakening/decimating of our U.S. military and our financing.

We stayed in Iraq too long and spent a huge amount of financial resources into that country and war, and we don’t have any more resources to help and protect our friends anymore.

Stop-Loss policies were enacted in the military to keep soldiers from leaving after their enlistment with the military was over. And the military recruitment goals aren’t being met. What we’ve got is a military in turmoil.

These two scenarios above could be a reality in the making. Russia, after the demise of the Iron Curtain, the formerly Soviet Union has never been able to develop free markets and capitalization as well as their neighbors on the south, China. China has become an economic powerhouse while Russia has regressed.

There was a brief period when former communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev brought down the Iron Curtain and gave satellite states their autonomy, and there was a bright spot for Russia under Boris Yeltsin. But Russia regressed under Vladimir Putin. Under Putin, Russia never materialized it’s economic potential. Russia has one of the wealthiest in minerals, gold, gas and oil reserves in the world, but never turned these into economic behemoths to their advantage.

Russia is jealous and angry with the the United States and the West, but fail to look into the mirror and see that they failed to take an economic opportunity when it was right under their noses.

Under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has never done anything to show the world as to why they should be members of the lucrative WTO (World Trade Organization). WTO boosted China’s economy and the Russians got jealous and angry, they saw what WTO did for China and the Russian leaders felt that the US and the West were intentionally keeping their economic nation down.

U.S. official: Russia's attack on Georgia is 'disproportionate'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Russia's use of strategic bombers and ballistic missiles against Georgia's civilians outside of the South Ossetian conflict is "far disproportionate" to Georgia's alleged attack on Russian peacekeepers, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.


Russian military vehicles line the road to the South Ossetia area of Georgia.

The official was not authorized to speak on the record due to the sensitive nature of the diplomacy.

Russia's use of its potent air weaponry signals a "severe" and "dangerous escalation in the crisis," the official said.

"For the life of me, I can't image that being a proportionate response to the charge that Georgia has attacked Russian peacekeepers," the official said. "It's hard for us to understand what Russia's plan is here."

The official said Russia is probably trying to destabilize Georgia politically to kill its chances of joining NATO.

Georgia wants to join NATO, but Russia opposes the move, concerned that the alliance's eastward march will erode its influence. NATO rejected Georgia's membership bid in April despite strong lobbying from U.S. President Bush, though the alliance promised that Georgia

Still, Georgia bears some of the blame for the fighting over South Ossetia, the official said. Recently, the United States has had "very blunt exchanges with" Georgia, telling its leaders that they have no chance of winning a war with Russia and that they should stick to a path of diplomacy.

The official said European allies have told the United States that Russia has "crossed a line of unacceptable behavior" and should "expect international condemnation."

"I do sense an emerging unified view among our key allies," he said.
The United Sates, Britain and NATO on Friday called for a cease-fire. And on Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed an immediate cease-fire as part of a three-step plan to end fighting.

Sarkozy's proposal calls for the return of Russian and Georgian troops to their former positions and requires Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected. A statement from Sarkozy's office did not provide further details on the plan.

The official also said the State Department has authorized only the voluntary departure of dependents of U.S. embassy employees from the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. The official said he did not know how many dependents would choose to leave.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council held a private meeting on Georgia on Saturday, though it seemed unlikely that there would be any immediate agreement on a statement on the conflict.

The U.S., European Union and international security organizations on Friday called for an end to the fighting.

Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the conflict in Beijing, where they attended the opening of the Summer Olympics.

The EU and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe were sending envoys to Georgia to secure a cease-fire, but a senior U.S. State Department official said the United States would send only a representative after a cease-fire is in place.

The European Union said it was working with other parties "towards a ceasefire in order to prevent further escalation of this conflict." EU spokeswoman Christina Gallach told CNN: "We think it is not acceptable to see these scenes of bloodshed and destruction."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/09/georgia.reax/index.html

Russia’s Presidents Source Wikipedia.com

For Russian leaders prior to this ratification, see Leaders of the Soviet Union.
Supported by Democratic Russia Supported by United Russia Our Home – Russia Non-partisan without support

Note: Non-partisan denotes an election in which the candidates do not declare or do not formally have a political party affiliation.
#
Details
Portrait
Party
1
Terms: 1[10]
Name: Boris Yeltsin
Birthplace: Butka, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Took office: July 10, 1991
Left office: November 5, 1996

Non-partisan(supported by Democratic Russia)
—
Acting: 23 hours[11]
Name: Viktor Chernomyrdin
Birthplace: Otrog, Saraktash, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Took office: November 5, 1996
Left office: November 6, 1996

Our Home – Russia
1
Terms: 2
Name: Boris Yeltsin
Birthplace: Butka, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Took office: November 6, 1996
Left office: December 31, 1999(Resigned)

Non-partisan
2
Acting: December 31, 1999 — May 7, 2000[12]
Terms: 2, 3, 4
Name: Vladimir Putin
Birthplace: Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union(now Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Took office: May 7, 2000
Left office: May 7, 2008

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