Bush Lets Russia Have It With Both Diplomatic Barrels

• August 12, 2008

He accuses the Russians of trying to depose the democratically-elected Georgian government, among other things.

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Monday warned of a “dramatic and brutal escalation” of violence by Russia in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and to pull back its troops.
Bush put the crisis at the top of his agenda as he returned from the Olympic Games in Beijing.
In a Rose Garden statement, he said there appeared to be an attempt by Russia to unseat Georgia’s pro-Western president, Mikhail Saakashvili.
He demanded an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops from the conflict zone and a return to the status quo as of Aug. 6.
Russia has ignored calls for a truce and has responded with overwhelming military force. It appeared Bush had little leverage to win Moscow’s compliance.

Russia, which blasted President Bush for allowing the military to facilitate the transfer of Georgian troops from Iraq to their homeland so that they could fight to defend it, is on a reckless road here that won’t lead anywhere good.
We should be thankful that we have a leader like Bush at the helm now as he, unlike Obama, isn’t afraid to tell the Russians that what they’re doing wrong.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array carrick

Imagine is apparently very good at “imagining” things if he thinks that the Russian military is anything other than a run-down third rate operation. I’m not at all confident that the Russians can do much more than they are already doing, and may easily get in over their heads.

if Putin isn’t careful this one could easily backfire on him domestically. And he has a lot to fear from the US, primarily because we could very easily start providing Georgia with limited air support, and there isn’t a damned thing Putin could do about it.
carrick

imagine:

If we know so much about Russia’s army, why didn’t we know this was going to happen?

Exactly what kind of logic is that? Russia does something stupid and we are supposed to anticipate it?
carrick

Clarky:

What is the U.S. going to do? Russia timed this action perfectly.

We have lots of options, actually. So does the rest of the world.

They can embargo Russian oil. That would cut Putin off at the knees.

Plenty of military options too. Think about it for a while, they’ll come to you.
carrick

Military intelligence is intended go give us the capabilities of our enemies, their stratagems and tactics. While it would be ideal for it to warn us again planned invasions of other countries, that is generally pie-in-the-sky. It just doesn’t happen very often. Details like specific planning for operations is much more closely guarded and therefore difficult to intercept….

To suggest that we don’t know e.g the capabilities of the Russian MIG-29 fighter or the T-72 tank simply because milint didn’t prognosticate a sudden, rapidly changing set of events like this is just silly. We know the size of their military (roughly 1,000,000 active), we know that most of these are poorly trained (conscriptions) and have equipment that is old and prone to breaking down.

In any case, the ground troops used for this relatively small incursion were apparently members of the Russian MVD (a special forces group under the control of Putin, kind of like the old German SS). It is a hell of an assumption that this would scale up to a larger scale version of this operation by the regular Russian army.

But go ahead and bloviate if you must. Next you can mimic the MSM liberal commentators and explain how this incident was really fault of the United States (and George W Bush in particular). Because that is another favorite liberal pass time: Blame the US.
crshedd

We should be thankful that we have a leader like Bush at the helm now as he, unlike Obama, isn’t afraid to tell the Russians that what they’re doing wrong.

diplomacy? talking to the enemy?

bush is nothing but an appeaser! why does he hate america?
imagine

Its called intelligence. We are supposed to know these things. Especially the stupid things. We have lots and lots of people whose job description reads ; “anticipate the stupid things”.

If this is a chess game, Russia just took “our” rook. Let the appeasing begin. We kiss the Saudi’s ass, North Korea, Pakistan,China…why not Russia.

The boldest thing we will do is send the Georgian troops from Iraq to home. (and this is what we will do for the #3 military force in Iraq…..)
imagine

we’re going to tell Russia what to do?
Bush better get conscription going before he starts talking much ‘smack’. Russia is ticked over our instant recognition of Serbia and knows exactly where the U.S. is; politically, militarily, economically and mentally.

They have little to fear from us other than rhetoric. Maybe the UN will actually do something,sometime, somewhere, somehow…yeah right!
Clarky

What is the U.S. going to do? Russia timed this action perfectly.
imagine

If we know so much about Russia’s army, why didn’t we know this was going to happen? I don’t put much stock in current abilities involving intelligence.
http://www.wethepeopleforum.com/forum/forums.asp golfmann

I’m sure a carrier group is heading that way and has been for a day at least…

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Bush Lets Russia Have It With Both Diplomatic Barrels

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