Despondency Loves Company
Yes. I am despondent.
Watching from afar the events in Georgia, a mixture of emotions went through my mind. I lived through the Cold War. The Cold War began immediately following the end of the second world war. I was born in 1949. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in the dying years of the 20th century, I was amazed at how quickly it had happened and how overjoyed most people from the Soviet bloc were to finally taste freedom. When the US invaded Iraq, my feeling was that at last, the damage done by the Cold War was going to be unraveled. Brutally oppressed people whose dictators had used them as pawns were also going to find freedom. Even the nuclear disarmament movement achieved some success. A new era ushering in human rights and freedom had dawned. But alas. How silly of me!
This invasion of poor little Georgia, having tasted freedom for only a few years after nearly a century of domination by the Soviet Union, even by their native son, Joseph Stalin, has snatched here right back into the jaws of the totalitarian giant. Moreover, all of the former Soviet bloc nations, both those that were nominally "independent" and those that were part and parcel of the Evil Empire, are now on high alert. All the while, since the disintegration of the USSR, Europe has been half asleep and wallowing in self-indulgence. NATO has languished, with most of its members wanting the economic benefits but none of the mutual defense business.
So here we are in the West, powerless to do much about KGB Putin, other than a flurry of useless diplomacy. Folks, the Cold War is back. Our only hope is a coup in Moscow, IMHO, but I doubt that will happen. A quick rallying around the remainder of Eastern Europe will take place. Armed forces, especially of the nuclear kind, will escalate, on both sides, and Third World dictators will once again be able to play off the East against the West with impunity. The last thing we need now is weak kneed bleeding hearts representing us in Ottawa. Damn. I wish Iran had been taken care of before this happened.
So, anyway, listening to Denise Prager this morning (Russia House: broadcast Friday, August 15th), I see I have company. He was interviewing John Bolton, who should be running for President. Maybe next time.
Some idiotic caller, by the way, tried to equate the invasion of Iraq to take out a maniacal dictator who threatened the world with the capacity to support terrorism with the Russian invasion of Georgia, a tiny country posing no threat at all, except maybe to Russia desire for global hegemony.
Watching from afar the events in Georgia, a mixture of emotions went through my mind. I lived through the Cold War. The Cold War began immediately following the end of the second world war. I was born in 1949. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in the dying years of the 20th century, I was amazed at how quickly it had happened and how overjoyed most people from the Soviet bloc were to finally taste freedom. When the US invaded Iraq, my feeling was that at last, the damage done by the Cold War was going to be unraveled. Brutally oppressed people whose dictators had used them as pawns were also going to find freedom. Even the nuclear disarmament movement achieved some success. A new era ushering in human rights and freedom had dawned. But alas. How silly of me!
This invasion of poor little Georgia, having tasted freedom for only a few years after nearly a century of domination by the Soviet Union, even by their native son, Joseph Stalin, has snatched here right back into the jaws of the totalitarian giant. Moreover, all of the former Soviet bloc nations, both those that were nominally "independent" and those that were part and parcel of the Evil Empire, are now on high alert. All the while, since the disintegration of the USSR, Europe has been half asleep and wallowing in self-indulgence. NATO has languished, with most of its members wanting the economic benefits but none of the mutual defense business.
So here we are in the West, powerless to do much about KGB Putin, other than a flurry of useless diplomacy. Folks, the Cold War is back. Our only hope is a coup in Moscow, IMHO, but I doubt that will happen. A quick rallying around the remainder of Eastern Europe will take place. Armed forces, especially of the nuclear kind, will escalate, on both sides, and Third World dictators will once again be able to play off the East against the West with impunity. The last thing we need now is weak kneed bleeding hearts representing us in Ottawa. Damn. I wish Iran had been taken care of before this happened.
So, anyway, listening to Denise Prager this morning (Russia House: broadcast Friday, August 15th), I see I have company. He was interviewing John Bolton, who should be running for President. Maybe next time.
Some idiotic caller, by the way, tried to equate the invasion of Iraq to take out a maniacal dictator who threatened the world with the capacity to support terrorism with the Russian invasion of Georgia, a tiny country posing no threat at all, except maybe to Russia desire for global hegemony.
posted by Louise at 9:38 am
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