Or so says John McCain – who seems to harken back to the good ole’ days of the Cold War – when we knew who and where the bad guys were and what they were all about. AmberPaw has a good post on the background to the latest of the serial crises in the perpetial batteground they call the Caucusus Mtns as well, but I just wanted to talk about the politics here.
McCain is blatantly using the conflict over little-known South Ossetia to point to his so-called foreign policy bona fides. The question is will it give him an edge in the campaign? Does it resonate? Americans were used to having Russia as an enemy and now McCain has a perfect foil to use in his race. From the Washington Post.
McCain’s rhetoric has become increasingly sharp. On Tuesday, he called Russia an unrepentant combatant against a “brave little nation” and compared Russian “killing” in the “tiny little democracy” to Soviet aggression during the Cold War era.
“We’ve seen this movie before in Prague and Budapest,” McCain said on Fox News. “And I’m not saying we are reigniting the Cold War, but, this is an act of aggression in which we didn’t think we’d see in the 21st century.”
Talk about hyperbole. I mean I feel the Russian action has gone too far – they are playing the bully in an area they consider their backyard. They are sending a message to the west to back off and a message to those regimes who embrace the west that there is little practically the west can do for them when Russian tanks come rolling through. Putin and Co. have beat back democracy in favor of a narrow nationalism and yes, America should have something to say about it.
But one thing is clear about the Russian action is how unprepared the Bush Administration was for it. McCain maybe talking tough now, but if anything he was a charter member in the “let’s encircle Russia with NATO members” club – which has no doubt pushed Russia’s buttons. The question for McCain that the press hasn’t asked is what would he have done to prevent the Russian incursions and how would his policy have differed from the President’s? In practice, they have been in lock step on this and there is no reason to believe a tough talking McCain would or could have prevented this happening. Time to hit him on this – Joe Biden where art thou?
The other question is what are we going to do about Russia? McCain is calling for their unilateral withdrawal. Tough words though aren’t going to do the trick. So then what do we do? Keep talking, try for sanctions, try to kick Russia out of international organizations. McCain says he wants Russia out of the G8 already. So will that make a difference here – unlikely and I don’t trust that McCain would be able to deliver on that if he reached the White House.
And I’m also not sure that further deterioration in our relationship with Russia is in our interests. Do we really want NATO to expand to the unstable Caucusus region – are we ready to go to war there to protect Georgia because that is what NATO membership entails? Do we not have myriad issues with which we need to work with Russia – from securing loose nukes, to cracking down on Iran effectively via sanctions – all goals which could be further undermined by pushing Russia further away? Russia’s reassertion as a regional power no doubt bears watching and appropriate condemnation – but what we have seen in Georgia is not a return to the Cold War. This is an insecure and petty nationalism – not global communism – from Russia. There is no threat here to our global position or interests. But McCain and the Republicans always need a bogeyman and into that role has stepped Putin’s Russia in just the nick of time.
This is all political bluster from a man full of hot air and tough talk. That essentially sums up McCain’s foreign policy. What would be nice is if while he rants and raves, the media would pose some difficult questions to him about what he would have done differently from Bush to prevent this crisis and what he will do about Russia going forward. Only then can the American public effectively determine whether they want a man in office who seems to want to take us back to the Cold War. For Obama’s part – I think he should start hitting McCain through surrogates on all the above. McCain’s fingerprints are all over this most recent Bush foreign policy debacle.
Did I miss this in your post? You trounced Bush, you trounced McCain and the Republicans… blamed everyone but the Russians. Where did you explain what Obama did in the US Senate since he got there (few weeks/months ago) to overt a problem like this? What has Obama suggested to fix this problem? Is it another hold hands and sing kumbaya moment? For that matter, what did the Democratically controlled US Senate do to prevent this?
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p>your only mention of BO was
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p>So your only mention for BO was not anything constructive or instructive but rather destructive. The rule in my house is if someone suggests a place for dinner and you don’t like it, then it’s your responsibility to suggest an alternative. What’s BO’s plan here?
if you don’t like the lack of obama quotes, provide them. that would be much more constructive than complaining.
This is an important point for all of us. IF someone decides to go blaming all the Republicans, Bush and the Republican Presidential nominee and then belittles that nominees views on the existing conflict, don’t you think he has the responsibility to compare it with his guys plan? I know he is being partisan with his attack and I am being partisan with McCain’s defense, but if I was going to say Obama’s plan for resolving the conflict sucked, I better have my guy’s plan to show how better it is.
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p>Rather than complain about my reply with your snippet, why not be part of the post. Don’t you want to know Obama’s plan for resolution or were you just happy to hear the verbal rant blaming Republicans for everything including the Fall of the Roman Empire in 476 (when McCain graduated from high school)?
to just keep passing the buck.
We can trace the consequences of Bush Administration policies. Are they sound or not? We can ask whether the candidate who has made the most recent statement is reasonable or not. We can ask what Obama might do.
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p>We don’t have to ask all these questions at once. This is not a Presidential debate. We are not obligated to question both candidates to the same degree. Further, at the current historical moment, the Bush Administration’s neo-conservative foreign policy represents a significant break from prior Administrations, both Republican and Democratic. So evaluating that approach is legitimate, current, interesting, and apropos. Unfortunately for the “Vulcans”, the results have been thumpingly negative. Call that “blaming” Bush if you must. Would you like to see a video of Stephen Colbert accusing the facts of a liberal bias? We love showing videos like that.
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p>One goal might be to advance our understanding just one step at a time.
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p>The one-step I am curious about is what does Obama want to do about this conflict? What’s his plan?
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p>I have this first statement…
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p>Then this came out…
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p>Reminds me of “A few good men…”
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p>Obama – “I object to the Russians invading Georgia”.
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p>Russians -“Overruled”
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p>Obama – “I strenuously object to the Russians invading Georgia”.
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p>Russians -“We said overruled”
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p>Obama – “I insist that a neutral party mediate the resolution of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.”
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p>Russians -“Are you deaf, Overruled”
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p>Obama – “I move that the UN Security Coucil sanctions Russia.”
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p>Russians (on UN Security Council requiring unanamous votes) -“Overruled”
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p>Obama – “Do you guys know I was the Editor of the Harvard Review?”
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p>Russians – “Can you spell Ukraine?”
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p>What “stick” is Obama recommending he has in his arsenal to command the attention and cooperation of Russia? Far that matter, what “carrot” is proposing?
It doesn’t seem as if the U.S. has a whole lot of leverage in this instance. There are few military options. I don’t detect much distance between Obama’s and Bush’s take on this. Moral pressure seems like the maximum.
for the last eight years. Bush has – with McCain right there with him. And Georgia just got hung out to dry. McCain thinks that just by talking tough thing happen. He hasn’t a clue about how to engage effectively.