Georgia (the ex-Soviet union kind)

Well I was reading the Wall Street Journal's section on the Georgian conflict and I got this shot in the arm that motivated me to blog again. So as I'm sure people know there is a conflict in Georgia that involves Russia. It's being told in this manner: Russia and its seperatists in South Ossetia cause a fuss again about seperating/annexing. Georgia attacks. Russia retaliates in a much bigger magnitude than expected, taking over the area. Georgia retreats saying it wants peace. Now they're in a big hullabaloo and Georgia wants help. Russia is testing how far they can go and are bringing up old grudges about genocide from Georgia.

So what are the implications of this? Is this the start of a new cold war? Georgia is a staunch U.S. ally and its president Sakashvili has brought along Western ideals. He is spinning it as a anti-democratic move and we should all be alarmed.

My thoughts:

Did this come at this time for a reason? The Olympics has brought the worlds attention to international relations. Georgia should know that it can't hope to hold a candle to the power of Russia, so it seems that they are leveraging the attack now to garner attention from the World.

What should the next president do about it and what are Barack's and John's stances on it? John McCain already strongly denounced Russia. He has had a few very anti-Putin quotes. Barack has been playing the fence a little bit but later put a little blame on Russia. Ok...Russia wants its old Soviet Union back and its ability to fight for it is only going to INCREASE in the future as it gets filthy rich off of oil and other commodities. I haven't done much research on it but why not? Give them a spot on the table. I really think that trying to intimidate Russia is not going to happen. As Russia gets richer they are less likely to listen to anyone.

On this issue I think I would rather have Obama who doesn't have any pre-disposed feelings towards Russia.

I just want to iterate I have not chosen a candidate and don't hope to until election time. Hopefully this blog will help me make a decision.