And Now, a War of Words

Friday evening, I submitted a blistering prose counterattack against what was set to be called the "hailstorm of shrillness" and "swooning gibberish" coming out of the anti-Russia lobby in the public prints. 

But I dialed it down as Russia pressed its attack into Georgia proper: see my current comments at The Guardian.

And yet I awake this morning to see the fever-blind editorial pages of the mainstream media aflame with brittle fury and cheap, irresponsible rhetoric. But cooler heads will not prevail if they are pulled into a shouting match, so I will reprint without comment, and wait.

The details of who did what to precipitate Russia's war against Georgia are not very important. Do you recall the precise details of the Sudeten Crisis that led to Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia? Of course not, because that morally ambiguous dispute is rightly remembered as a minor part of a much bigger drama.

*

Exactly what happened in South Ossetia last week is unclear. Each side will argue its own version. But we know, without doubt, that Georgia was responding to repeated provocative attacks by South Ossetian separatists controlled and funded by Moscow. This is a not a war Georgia wanted; it believed that it was slowly gaining ground in South Ossetia through a strategy of soft power.

*

Today, the Vladimir Putins and Hu Jintaos and Mahmoud Ahmadinejads of the world — to say nothing of their junior counterparts in places like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and North Korea — are no more likely than were Soviet leaders in 1924 to be swayed by "moral influence." Dictators aren't moved by the claims of justice unarmed; aggressors aren't intimidated by diplomacy absent the credible threat of force; fanatics aren't deterred by the disapproval of men of moderation or refinement.

PLUS...Yglesias begins to chime in from his new digs. More, please!

AND...I would be remiss not to link to the sober op-ed at the Christian Science Monitor penned by Georgetown Professor Charles King. 

Comments

[h]

When will people hold Zionists accountable?

Let's see here ...

USA/Israel funds & supports Georgia, infiltrates their Govt. with Zionists, Georgia attacks first, and then the Western Media lies about it and calls Russia the instigator.

I'm so sick of the lies from the USA I can't take it anymore!

Read what the other side has to say before believing the lies of the Western Media:

http://engforum.pravda.ru/index.php

[The Reticulator]

You do a disservice to the complexity of the situation by referring to an anti-Russia lobby. If you want people to better understand the nuances of the situation of Georgia (which seems to be a bit of backtracking on your part from the days when you talked about bright lines of sovereignty) then you should do a better job of nuancing the people who are concerned about Russia's actions, too.