GEORGIA ON MY MIND
I only wish that Ray Charles were still around to do an updated version of the old classic, "Georgia On My Mind". One of my favorite songs, Charles' dragging beat and mournful vocals always send a chill up my spine. This remake, however, is being produced by a much less soulful human being, The Russian Grand Dragon, Putin, who may have fooled President Bush, but he was a tough sell to just about everyone else. Russia has been busy stomping on the neighboring province of Georgia, concerned about losing yet more ground in that region as two other disputed provinces, South Ossetia and Azbhakia struggle with independence.
It's funny. America is the country that Europe loves to hate, because of our military action in Iraq, and because of the increasing and irrational notion that we want to rule the world. Yet, right next door, and with history books brimming with proof-positive that the former Soviet Union did indeed want to rule the world, there is little relative outcry from our European friends. The Russian military response in Georgia was to simply inflict an abject pounding to the tiny region. It's like killing a housefly with a twelve-pound sledgehammer. Similarly, the response from the Kremlin to other world leaders, the United States in particular, was a Tony Soprano-like "va-fungoo" from under the chin. Said another way...they flipped us the bird. Russia is the country that opted-out of the group anger-management classes, and it really shows when things get a little dusty.
It's interesting. I recall a trip to Russia by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about eight months ago and she met with Putin. There was an exchange and Putin was shockingly rude to her. Condi, and this is why I love her, gave it right back to him and said that she would not be spoken to in that manner. Pretty stunning stuff, got little or no press. But it stuck with me. I remember seeing Putin visiting President Bush and his father at Walker's Point in Maine and also at the family digs in Texas. I wish that Bush Jr. and Sr. had taken Putin on a little fishing trip off the Maine Coast and had some kind of "accident-at-sea". What an opportunity they missed, because a year or two from now, or sooner, we may all be wishing they had done that. I think many people have been sensing for the past few years, a growing restlessness with our Vodka-loving friends. They are reverting back to their "same ol' used-to-be" to steal a line from the old blues song "Stealin'", and are quickly becoming the "pain-in-the-ass of the week" to U.S. officials.
Like the rest of the world, they sense our national weakness. Our economy is tanking, our military is spread thinner than hot peanut butter, our citizenry is beyond divided, I don't even know what you'd call it, but we are a bunny in the cross-hairs for any country that has a dog in the race. Putin was incensed over our plans to install a missile-defense system just miles from their border, and I think the play on Georgia is meant much more as a singing-telegram to American officials than it is a response to a perceived threat, or a play on territory. Russia has creaked open their massive hangar door, and shown the world their big, hairy fighting machine, and believe me, it's worth a look. Notice how the Russians fight, compared with how we went into Iraq. They shoot first, they don't wait to be fired upon. No "politically-correct" fighting on that stage. Hammer-down, period.
The talking heads on radio and TV warn us about the possibility of Word War III. I can't disagree. McCain said just days ago that he has a much different assessment of Putin than President Bush has. McCain clearly has never trusted him and I even questioned McCain about Russia at a Town Hall Meeting in Rochester, NH just weeks ago. He said then that the situation bears watching and that Putin was obviously rattling the cage. Good. Because this is no time for second-guessing. Putin is ex-KGB, otherwise known as KGB. For them to be warming up the military machinery and dusting it off, is, and should be, an unsettling sight for the rest of the world, and especially for Americans.
Karl From New Hampshire