Friday, August 22, 2008

Day 2786: Georgia – the Balloon Goes Up

Sunday:


Mr Balloon flies into Tbilisi, the besieged capital of Georgia, to stage a lightning press opportunity.

Well at least he went!

Since making a GESTURE is about all that we seem capable of, then this was a pretty grand gesture to make.

On the other fluffy foot, Mr Balloon is in a better position to make BELLICOSE pronouncements since he ISN'T in a position to put anybody's life on the line to back up his JINGOISM.

I just can't recommend his Neo-Con rush to have Georgia join a NATO that can afford neither people nor arms to defend it. Nor am I sold on his desire to replace Lord Blairimort as the yipping poodle beside America's sabre-rattling.

Far more PRACTICAL were the efforts of President Sarcastic of France, demonstrating that DIPLOMACY not threats could bring the Russian aggression to an end.

Good for him.

"Strong European cooperation must be the way forward," said Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary Mr Ed Davey, urging greater British support for Monsieur Sarcastic's efforts.


Unfortunately, it seems that, like Mr Balloon, the Russians are capable of a GRAND OLD GESTURE of their own, and their "withdrawal" appears to be more a case of driving in circles and GLOWERING.

Meanwhile the "independence" movements in the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are appealing to the Russians to annex them recognise their sovereignty.

The way I see it, though, by being BELLIGERENT we are actually making things WORSE for the Georgians.

The Russians KNOW that we do not want to get into a REAL conflict over the Caucuses, not least because any confrontation with Russia runs the risk of going NUCLEAR. But if American and Britain are STRUTTING their STUFF, then the Russians can claim pseudo-legitimacy when they roll their armour about the place too; if we are HUFFING and PUFFING then the Kremlin thinks it's fine to BLOW THE HOUSE DOWN.

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