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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Russia invades Georgia - What to do?

For those that have been paying attention to the candidates and their response to this situation, Barack Obama recently came out against Russian aggression towards Georgia. This was a clarification of some of his other positions, to make him more closely mirror John McCain's position. McCain has been speaking out against the risks Russia poses for over a decade, particularly under Vladimir Putin's rule. The Wall Street Journal has some suggestions on what the West's response to this blatant violation of international sovereignty should be. If we don't act now, Russia could easily act to retake other former Republics. This could be the start of something big, and the world is too busy watching beach volleyball at the Olympics.
We should all hope that this does not develop into something truly serious, as a wrong move could start a major war, even World War III. Hopefully we will soon have some leadership that recognizes that the threat we are dealing with cannot simply go unchecked. Russia is seriously impeding upon the international order, but no mechanism exists within the UN to address the situation since Russia has a veto on the Security Council. This suggests that NATO might be a better vehicle for addressing aggression on this scale. A strong response now would be more likely to get Russia to stand down. The more the West dithers, the more emboldened Putin will become.

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