On Georgia

The "six day war" in which Georgia was overwhelmed by Russian troops has triggered the most interesting, if not predictable, chain of events. A Georgia intoxicated by the West thought that it could reassert control over it's breakaway province but instead woke up the Russian bear from a deep hibernation. Or was it hibernating? The sheer scale of the Russian response was executed like a master chess player who bid her time before delivering the final blow and forcing their opponent into checkmate. At the time, I watched with some amusement as the Georgian president switched to rhetoric about values and the West. He sounded a lot like the leaders of the March 14th movement who, like Mr Saakashvili, had allowed themselves to be deluded by the West. These figures all now appear more like desperate sailors clinging onto bits of wreckage and flotsam after the storm.Hassan Nasrallah had already mocked Israel with this, apparently the person responsible for training Georgian commandos was none other than the General who had also been responsible for Israeli troops in the South of Lebanon during the 2006 war. I'm particularly surprised with Syria's moves in support of Russia. Recently, I was getting extremely worried about Syria's warming relations with the West and talk of some peace process, but it's support of Russia (Georgian armed forces were apparently trained by Israel) puts it in a position directly opposed to America and Israel. The Independent reports that:


President Bashar al-Assad had flirted with the West of late and was a guest of honour at France's Bastille Day parade last month. Before the Georgia war, the West had high hopes of prising him away from Syria's key ally Iran, which the US accuses of supporting Islamic militants.

Those hopes were dashed when Mr Assad discussed an arms deal with President Dmitry Medvedev. A diplomatic source in Moscow said the leaders were preparing deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems.

meaning that the resistance option (read here self preservation for the regime) is still open and that there is slim chance of an Israeli flag flying over a building in Damascus any time soon. The irony of all of this situation is that many people still do not comprehend that the United States is not a powerful country anymore. It has not been for a very long time and in almost every situation where we might have believed that a country had gone firmly into the Western orbit we find that, in fact, this was a misguided view to have. Lebanon was a perfect example of this scenario. In the end it took only 6 hours for the entirety of Beirut to be scrubbed clean of the Future militia's thugs. Jumblatt himself, the political barometer of Lebanon, is now railing against the United States whilst Sanioora, mini-Hariri and Geagea have been extremely quiet lately. In Gaza the same situation appeared to be happening as the ring got tightened around the Hamas government. Again, within a day Muhammad Dahlan's Fatah men were routed and expelled. Trained by Egypt and Jordan, both vassal states of America, they were unable to hold their ground and, just like the Israeli and American trained Georgian troops, collapsed quickly. In all these examples, it was the continued provocation of the pro-Western side which brought about the swift responses. It's a bit like having an unruly child who keeps testing the boundaries. The more they push the more arrogant and unruly they become. Finally the point is reached when they have nobody to blame but themselves when the inevitable punishment is delivered. Like the West's allies in Lebanon and Gaza, and like Israel did in 2006, Georgia has had to learn the hard way.