Say Anything Blog

Far from being conciliatory with the West after their one-sided victory over Georgian defense forces, Soviet President Medvedev, a.k.a. Putin’s sock-puppet, menaced all potential Soviet enemies with Cross us and we will crush you.

President Medvedev of Russia yesterday promised a shattering blow against any foreign power that moved against Russian citizens.

The threat will compound the fears of former Soviet states, which are concerned that they could be next after Russia’s attack on Georgia.

If someone thinks they can kill our citizens, kill soldiers and officers fulfilling the role of peacekeepers, we will never allow this, Mr Medvedev told a group of Second World War veterans in Kursk. Anyone who tries to do this will receive a shattering blow.

He continued: Russia has the capabilities - economic, political and military. Nobody has any illusions left about that.

Evidently, the Soviet government reserves the exclusive right to mass-slaughter its own people and anyone else unfortunate enough to fall under the Soviet boot.

And yes, I know the Soviets supposedly disappeared from the face of the Earth, right about the same time the Berlin Wall fell, but if anyone doubts their return from the grave, one need only examine the events and statements generated from Moscow in the preceding week.

Make no mistake—the Soviets are back.

On the other side of the Atlantic, what is coming from Washington is anything but dulcet tones.

Rice: NATO won’t let Russia succeed in Georgia

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says NATO will not allow Russia to destabilize Georgia, intimidate other pro-Western governments in the former Soviet bloc or re-establish an Iron Curtain across Europe.

Speaking to reporters on her way to an emergency NATO meeting in Brussels, Rice warned Moscow it is playing a dangerous game with the United States and its allies, who will stand by Georgia and ensure its recovery from a weeklong Russian invasion.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Rice also said the alliance would act to punish Russia for its actions and deny its strategic objectives by ensuring that Georgia’s insfrastructure and economy are rebuilt and that its government is fully supported by the West.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP)—At an emergency NATO meeting called by the United States, Washington will press European allies Tuesday to agree to a unified plan to punish Russia for invading Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to Brussels Monday to talk with NATO foreign ministers about what message the West should send to Moscow on the military intervention as well as how to support and rebuild a suffering Georgia.

Amid worsening relations with Moscow, NATO ministers were expected to review a range of military, ministerial and other upcoming activities planned with Russia—and decide on a case by case basis whether to cancel each activity.

Rekindling Cold War tensions, Russian troops and tanks have controlled a wide swath of Georgia for days. They also began a campaign to disable the Georgian military, destroying or carting away large caches of military equipment.

The Soviet introduction of SS-21 mobile missile launchers into the theatre of operations may signal Moscow’s upping the ante.  Russian military leaders have watched the effectiveness of American precision weapons, such as JSOW or Joint Stand off Weapons, single bombs which deploy dozens of smart bomblets, each one capable of destroying Soviet armor in such places as Kosovo and the Middle East.  Tacitly acknowledging that Western deployment of precision weapons can effectively nullify their vast numeric superiority in numbers of tanks and armored vehicles, their new stated doctrine is to launch tactical nuclear weapons in response.

Clearly, the older generations of Soviet military planners who lived through the horrors of WWII have passed.  It was that first-hand knowledge of seeing mass carnage which made McNamara’s doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction effective.  But with a younger, more arrogant generation of Soviet military planners, the likelihood of the Soviets crossing a line that triggers a Western response is greatly heightened.

This is a situation, which, unless delicately handled, can rapidly escalate into a nuclear exchange.