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August 13, 2008: Statement on the Situation in Georgia

August 13, 2008


Once again the world condemns the action only with words, leaving the defenders of liberty to their own devices.

Who believes Russia’s stated reason for attacking the sovereignnation of Georgia? Vladimir Putin’s rationale for the attack—ethnicaffinity for separatists in a Georgian region known as South Ossetia—isno more believable than George Bush’s claim of weapons of massdestruction in Iraq.

The common denominator (and perhaps the real reason): oil.

The Russian bear did not simply wake from 17 years of hibernationand decide to maul tiny Georgia. Georgia’s strategic position adjacentto oil-rich Azerbaijan likely drove the decision to invade. Putin wantsto deny Azeri oil a southern route that is beyond Russia’s control. Andwith Poland and Hungary already members of NATO, Putin realized he mustnot allow Georgia to align with the West. Also, the proposed NATOmissile defense in Poland—too fast and too soon—might have been atipping point for Putin as well. Feeling threatened on the west, hemight have elected to move south instead.

And what better time to invade than with the United States boggeddown in Iraq and losing ground in Afghanistan? Blocked in onedirection, Putin took advantage of America’s myopic military focus ontwo fitful wars. The United States now has 34,000 troops inAfghanistan, with the total growing weekly, and will face the samefierce resistance that proved to be the undoing for one of Putin’spredecessors, Leonid Brezhnev, and triggered the disintegration of theSoviet Union. Putin knows well the brutal will of the Afghanresistance. He also knows the price America will inevitably pay in anation that at one time respected U.S. intentions but now increasinglyviews it as an unwelcome enemy.

And what better time to terrorize a tiny nation than during the OlympicGames in China, when the entire world is perfecting the art of lookingthe other way in the face of totalitarian repression?

While Putin astutely and cynically picked the opportune moment tocrush the Rose Revolution in Georgia, President Bush is all butabandoning one of America’s strongest allies, a nation that committed2,000 troops to his escapade in Iraq.

The real issue here, of course, is strategic positioning, controlof a vital asset, and the power that goes with it. As America becomesenergy weak, with only two percent of the world’s remaining oilreserves, Russia rises with hers. America’s goal should be domesticdevelopment of new energy systems to restore energy independence, notforeign adventurism. Yet, incredibly, this Administration extended ourmilitary halfway around the world while making our nation ever moredependent on foreign energy supplies.

The Bush Administration has also failed miserably on the diplomaticfront. In the first Persian Gulf War, the world community, at thebehest of the United States, stood united to drive Iraq out of thesovereign territory of Kuwait. The world community now has no suchinclination to assist in Iraq as the United States has lost standingamong nations as an aggressor itself. Pre-emptive strikes do haveconsequences, not the least of which is setting an example that otherpowers then copycat. And now Russia has.

Meanwhile, many former Soviet republics hang out there: Azerbaijanhas energy resources, Moldova has agricultural assets, and Ukraine isalso an oil transit route to Western Europe, along with key ports alongthe Black Sea, such as Sevastopol. What better time, indeed, for Russiato shore up its resource-rich, southern underbelly?

Once again U.S. intelligence proved less than up to the task offorewarning, leaving one of our best friends exposed to a foreigninvasion.

So now, very sadly, the great powers have led the world into Oil Wars rather than a new energy age for a sustainable earth.

Click below for a bigger map of oil pipelines in the region, courtesty of the Dept. of Energy.
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Click below for more information (starting in the Transit Energy section) on oil pipelines going through Georgia at the Dept. of Energy.
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