I wish this essay were about the song “Georgia on My Mind,” with its wonderful recordings by Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and Louis Armstrong. But as it turns out, the Georgia on my mind is a European country under the domination of the Russians which now intrudes into all of our thoughts. Perhaps I can put my sentiments into a single sentence. That sentence would embrace cowboy talk and a slightly vulgar maxim having its origin in the United States Army. My thoughts are that our beloved President is “fixin’” to put America’s ass in a sling. The sling will be provided by Bush’s great and good friend, Mr. Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia who takes great delight in the recent ascendancy of his country and who also enjoys sticking it to his friend George W. as often as possible.
Georgia, as you know, is a pipsqueak country located at the foot of Russia and until the 1980s was completely under the domination of the Soviets. As a matter of information of no great importance, the original dictator, Josef Stalin, was a Georgian himself. In recent days, Georgia has fashioned itself into a democracy under the leadership of its President, Mikheil Saakashvili. Mr. Saakashvili is a bit too big for his britches. As the President of Georgia, he seems to envision himself as a leader in world affairs, not to mention a genius in the field of battle. Vladimir Putin of Russia regards Mr. Saakashvili as no more than an overgrown twerp leading a country that used to be a simple province of Russia.
Mr. Saakashvili, in his role as a great leader, has even hired an American lobbyist named Randy Scheunemann. Mr. Scheunemann’s services do not come cheaply in that Mr. Saakashvili paid his lobbyist $800,000 to lobby the United States on behalf of the great state of Georgia. It must be obvious to everyone in the world that a president who can hire an $800,000 lobbyist is to be taken seriously at all times.
In recent months, George Bush, our cowboy President, has taken it upon himself to appear in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to laud Mr. Saakashvili’s leadership of this great democracy in the heart of what used to be the Soviet mainland. It is apparent that the President of Georgia has made a fundamental mistake in that he has concluded that praise coming from George Bush represents the backing of all of the leaders in the so-called western world. That is a blunder of the first order. The cowboy president merely reads what is put before him without comprehending what he is really saying.
Condoleezza Rice, our Secretary of State, even made a trip to Georgia to remind President Saakashvili that words of praise did not mean that he was free to provoke the Russian bear. Clearly, the President of Georgia dismissed the warning from Condoleezza Rice as the meanderings of a school teacher or head mistress.
And so it was that Mr. Saakashvili bragged to the world about the democracy that he was heading, believing that he had the full armed support of the western world. Mr. Saakashvili was mistaken in every respect of that belief.
Earlier this month (August 2008), Mr. Saakashvili set out to take over the province of Ossetia, which had been in dispute between his country and Russia for some time. He made an unimaginable blunder in that he used fire power in his effort to take over Ossetia. The Russians were poised to take advantage of such a blunder. They poured troops and tanks into Georgia not only to validate their claim to Ossetia but also to overthrow the government of Mr. Saakashvili. The President of Georgia has not yet been overthrown but all things being equal, it is clear that he is impotent. His recent statements make it clear that he had the belief that western powers would come to his aid even though he was the aggressor in trying to take over the province of Ossetia.
Now that the Russians have eaten his lunch, he is asking why his allies weren’t there when he needed them. The facts of the matter are that when you are a pipsqueak country and you reside in the neighborhood of the big black bear, one should praise one’s democracy only modestly and should not poke the bear in the eyes by invading a province that was in dispute between Georgia and Russia. Even Condoleezza recognized this fact and warned Saakashvili to lay off. He didn’t do that.
Russian forces are now in Georgia and have made it absolutely clear that they will go home whenever they find it convenient. On August 15, 2008 Condoleezza Rice made another trip to Georgia to get the President to sign a ceasefire which effectively would curtail his misadventure into Ossetia. She hoped that this would cause the Russians to go home, but no luck. The Russians merely admired her handwriting and said, “We are staying until we are ordered to go home.”
Now the scene shifts from Tbilisi to the Rose Garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. On several occasions since this flareup with the Georgians and the Russians, Mr. Bush, our beloved President, has appeared to announce to the world that Russia has damaged world relations and we should all think less of the Russians for that reason. The Bush administration has even cancelled a joint exercise with the Russians on a naval maneuver which means absolutely nothing.
But Bush and his Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates, have loudly proclaimed that this is a watershed in the dealings between our two countries and that the damage has been done by only the Russians.
Mr. Bush has worn a path in the Rose Garden with his continual announcements of how badly the Russians have treated our relationship. The Russians seem not to have noticed or to care. On her most recent trip to Europe to take the ceasefire agreement to Saakashvili, Condoleezza Rice went to Paris and then to Tbilisi, but she scheduled no stops whatsoever in Moscow. An observer such as myself has to wonder why it is that the United States drew a pledge to stop activities in the current war only from the Georgians. Apparently the Russians had not much to do with it. In any case, Mr. Bush is about ready to wear out the lectern in the Rose Garden with his frequent poundings.
Pounding is about all that Bush can do because in his years in office, Bush has squandered the American military in terms of lives and endurance in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every observer has to know that Bush’s threats are completely empty because he has nothing to back them up. And so it is that he assaults the lectern in the Rose Garden while the Russians stay in the great state of Georgia.
There are two other thoughts that need to be expressed here in that Mr. Bush wishes to have an anti-missile defense shield, supposedly to stop missiles from Iran across Europe. The Russians believe that the installations for the defense shield are nothing more than emplacements for bombardments of Russian territory and they are deeply and genuinely angered. This past week, when Bush announced that he was going to place some of his anti-missile defenses in Poland, the Russians responded by saying that this might encourage them to give the same treatment accorded the Georgians to the Poles. The Poles have suffered under both the German and Russian occupation of their country, and I am certain that this will give them great pause. In any case it is another instance of Mr. Bush putting America’s ass in a great sling.
Then there is the thought that Russia supplies a heavy proportion of the natural gas and heating oil used in the rest of Europe. Last winter, when there was a dispute between the Russians and the Ukrainians, the Russians found it quite easy to turn off the spigot. One should notice that the Germans, the Swiss, the Austrians, etc. are in no hurry to register their displeasure with Russia over the Georgian matter. In this instance we are out there alone and the Europeans have no desire to freeze this winter merely to accommodate a clown like George Bush.
And so it is that George Bush is wearing a path all around the Rose Garden while he makes these terrible pronouncements about the Russians. He has even accused them of “bullying and intimidation.”
If there was ever a case of the pot calling the kettle black, as in the instance of bullying and intimidation, our cowboy President is exhibit number one. I suppose that George Bush also supports the contention of his candidate in the Republican nomination, John McCain, that says that no civilized country invades another. Do Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush forget that we invaded Iraq? In the final analysis, it seems to me that the Russian bear has listened to the fulminations of George Bush and as a result has decided to urinate on Mr. Bush’s leg while he gazes into Bush’s eyes to see the effect upon his soul. When the Russian bear decides to retreat to its embassy on Sixteenth Street in Washington, he will leave a bear dropping on the north portico of the White House. Unfortunately Yale and Harvard did not teach our beloved President that you provoke the Russian bear only at your own great peril. And now that the bear has been provoked, the fearless leader of this country has announced that he is prepared to go on vacation. I suppose this proves that stupidity never stops.
E. E. CARR
August 16, 2008
Essay 333
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Kevin’s commentary: I’m often surprised how relevant Pop’s older essays can be. I’m publishing this one on March 1st, the same day that Russia approved troop movement into Ukraine. The more things change the more they stay the same. At least Obama is a little more competent, and they’re talking about shutting Russia out of the G8 instead of just canceling some ship exercise.
Still though, the fact that these guys have a seat on the security council is good in that we won’t start a third world war, but bad in that the UN’s hands are pretty tied.