The Russian invasion of Georgia and the inability of the US or Europe to do anything about it demonstrates Russia’s newly proven position of power in the world and the current weakness of the world’s democracies.
Europe and the US will not attack Russia foremost because Russia has a large sophisticated military force and plenty of nuclear weapons, not because the US is hamstrung by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current military tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan could be adjusted to quickly crush the will, or the capability, of those countries that are acting to promote the continuing of those wars to nothing more than a minor consideration. If the US and Europe went up against Russia then their global priorities would change with definitive power being used to quickly knock down any country that acts to help their enemies. Russia has now even suggested that it may engage in military action against Poland because Poland signed an agreement to install the US missile defense system. If Russian troops entered Poland would Europe and the US send troops into Poland to attack those troops if necessary to force them out or just put up with it? What would Russia do if the west started to move equipment and troops to provide some protection against an invasion into former USSR countries that claim they fear threatened by Russia?
Any financial penalties the US and Europe impose against Russia for their attack into Georgia, and for their remaining on and keeping any Georgian territory they please, could backfire. Europe and the US need the massive amounts of Russian gas and oil to continue to flow into Europe. If the western democratic countries freeze Russian bank accounts and apply other financial penalties against Russia then they may find out the hard way which country holds the power to cause the other the greater financial suffering. If Russia decides to shut off the taps to European countries the lack of fuel and the fuel price jump for Europe and the US could quickly cripple their economies. Even just jacking the price way up would cause a lot of damage because Europe can’t just go shopping elsewhere to get a better deal because of the tight world supply situation, and you can bet that action would cause US prices to jump too. And as hurricane Gustav approaches the US government has announced that it is willing to tap into the country’s strategic oil reserves to try to stabilize the cost of a gallon of gas at the pumps if the hurricane causes any interruptions to the US oil and gas production, which of course is being done to buy political favour during this election period. What about the ease with which hostile countries can cut the US or world oil supplies to cause costs to skyrocket and the reduced ability of the US to absorb this hit if its reserves are reduced, and even more so if a major military action is needed because the current Russian threat escalates during the same time and/or Iran causes problems with the Persian Gulf oil tanker traffic? As per usual the politician’s only thoughts prove them to be selfish and incapable of understanding the threats to themselves, their families, and all the rest of the people who make up the country. Of course the wealthiest can always move to safer parts of the world during times of war to continue their empires, notwithstanding a full out global nuclear war that they also would suffer from.
The western countries cannot succeed in bullying Iran into stopping their nuclear program either. The US and Europe cannot attack Iran to prevent them from pursuing their nuclear program without considering what Russia and Iran could join together to do. Iran could fully or partially shut down the Persian Gulf oil tanker traffic and Russia could turn off the taps to its pipelines that supply Europe or jack their prices up enough to seriously harm the economies of the west. The Russian and Iranian gas and oil could still move through Russian controlled territory, including using the Georgian pipelines that would have been a bypass around Russian territory, to sell to China and their other friendly countries. The west should not be surprised to see more Russian weapons and supplies flowing into Iran.
The US cannot act aggressively against China either because unfair trade practices have resulted in China holding a massive amount of the country’s debt that the Chinese could dump into the world’s markets to crash the US economy. The western democratic countries have allowed communist China to enact uneven trade policies to take wealth from their countries, and to purchase their resources and to get easier access to western technologies. Our democratic leaders like to pretend themselves to be more morally correct then the rest of us peons by being so inclusive of all people, so much so that they fool themselves into looking at everyone and everything through rose coloured glasses. Communist countries use this kind of naivety of the arrogantly delusional to strengthen their position of power.
The western countries democratic politician’s foolish lack of concern for the long term consequences of allowing the free market to choose the direction for their countries means they ignored the threat of outsourcing their country’s energy supply sources. They have also ignored the financial threats unrestrained free markets have caused that allows communist countries like China to hold such a massive amount of our debt as leverage against us and that have also resulted in the unemployment of millions of our own citizens. The massive amounts of money paid out for imported oil and trade imbalances that flowed out of the western countries are returning to buy up all the country’s people’s works, resources, properties and technologies. The western democratic countries economies can now be easily bought or held hostage by foreign interests because for decades our leaders have chosen not to lead but to foolishly allow the selfishly greedy markets to choose our countries path. The only thing our politicians know because they constantly practice it is how to lie and deceive, and how to suck butt of any little group that may help provide them with the few extra votes they’ll need to get them elected. Their main use of their mind is trying to think of how they can improve their chance of getting elected or reelected, and in practicing how to lie and deceive more convincingly. Instead of knowing a little history, something about human nature, and having some understanding of current business practices and technologies, and applying this knowledge to encourage the progression of our country to the benefit of we the people, who are in fact the country, the politicians prefer to blindly leave everything up to unknown people and engage in their tirade of “The best thing to do is to let the markets dictate their own path and make their own corrections.”.
Has Russia even bothered to return the US equipment they stole in Georgia or are they continuing to thumb their nose at the US? What will the western countries do if Russia decides to move their military into Poland and/or other countries? Will they be willing to go to war against a nuclear power that could immediately shut off so much of their needed power generating capability and upset their economies? Does Russia need to concern itself with the blathering of the US and European politicians when they hold so many power cards? Will Russia, China and Iran choose to work in tandem to deliver a one, two, three knockout punch to the western democracies? Stay tuned: same bat time, same bat channel.
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