While my heart is with Georgia, my mind is with Pat on this one. Sure, Russia likes to throw its weight around in the "near-abroad." And the term peacekeepers as applied to Russian troops in the former Soviet space is risible.
But where is the Senate's statement in favor of Georgia's territorial rights taking the United States? What is it going to get us? I mean, the U.S. is not about to send troops to help Georgia reclaim its lands occupied by Russian peacekeepers and risk nuclear war with Russia.
These territorial disputes are not a cut-and-dried case of neo-imperialism on Russia's part, nor of belligerent rapacity on Georgia's part. The truth of these frozen conflicts is muddled. And the U.S. Senate's unanimous declaration in favor of Georgia does nothing to change things. Not that I can see anyway. Indeed, nobody except Russia recognizes these two breakaway republics as independent states anyway.
And so Buchanan is correct in saying the Senate's resolution is equal to baiting Russia in its own back yard. But even worse, in my view, since the U.S. is doing nothing to back it up, such an empty resolution -- approved right before Congress goes on vacation -- makes America look weak and unserious.
By Patrick J. Buchanan
August 23, 2011 | Human Events
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