The Law of Unintended Consequences <hr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> We all have been watching Russia roll over the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in the last few days - an action described many years ago by the head of the History Department at the university where I attended as "merely Communists being Communists". John McCain, in a moment of candor rare for politicians, paraphrased President Bush's "I looked into Putin's eyes..." quote when the senator remarked "I saw letters - KGB!" But the "Georgia Rollover" seems to have had some unintended consequences for Putin and his thugs. What was formerly known as the "G-8" is now being widely referred to as the "G-7", signifying Russia's removal from that group by the other seven members. Russia's much sought-after membership in the World Trade Organization also seems to be an empty dream now. While Russia's veto power in the Security Council has once again rendered the UN impotent, the President of France immediately headed to Moscow, while the Presidents of Poland, the Ukraine, and several other former Soviet captive nations headed to the capitol of Georgia as a show of solidarity. There is now discussion of the formation of a "Caucasus Union" of the former Soviet nations once under the thumb of Moscow. No one, not even the French, will "look the other way" on this Russian gaffe. The reluctance to accept US and NATO troops, bases, and hardware by the former Soviet captive nations has instantly disappeared, and these Eastern European governments are actively seeking fast-track NATO membership. The thin veneer of civilized behavior of Putin's Russian government has cracked wide open for all the world to see the reality beneath, and neither Putin nor Medvedev nor "all the kings men" will ever be able to patch the crack or promote the mass-amnesia necessary among the peoples of the world to forget the view of the Russian government that has been exposed in the last four days. Even if Putin and his thugs in the Russian government manage to coerce a regime change in Georgia, and the acquisition of the two break-away areas, the overall losses to Russia will far outweigh their small gains. The Soviet Union is gone for good, Mr. Putin. Get over it. <!-- / message --><!-- sig --> __________________
I think you over estimate the average persons memory. As soon as they announce a new American idol scandal or some such crap the few who have heard about it in the states and not thought it was some kind of story about a riot in a southern state will nearly all forget the ever was a fight in Georgia and in the rest of the world it will largely be the same among those not to preocupied with getting food to care whats going on past the horizon. I also think you over estimate how much those in power care. I suspect most of them already knew full well the charicter of Putin and those he benifits supported him and those he didnt didnt support him and I dont see many minds changing.
