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9097. jexster - 7/19/2008 3:19:11 PM Gazprom negotiating major contract with Iran
Deal would run afoul of US sanctions 9098. jexster - 7/23/2008 4:29:55 PM I think we've seen this movie
Russia's not only making nice with Hugo's security pact entreaties, they're also considering sending bombers to Cuba
Heckuva job Georgie
 9099. jexster - 7/26/2008 1:11:12 AM COMITÉ FRANÇAIS DE SOUTIEN À
BARACK OBAMA
9100. jexster - 7/29/2008 8:23:18 PM Whatever became of our resident Moron and sometime Slerbian pig farmer - Rosie Stone????
Probably demonstrating.
Thousands converge on Belgrade to protest extradition of pig farmer and murderer Karadzic
The Slerbs are ever the asshole of the assholes of Yurrup, a land aptly described by one Austrian general in WWI as a "nation of pigshit and fruit orchards"
Rosetta Stone
RIP 9101. jexster - 8/1/2008 2:05:44 PM ISI Linked to Nato, Indian embassy attacks
McBush Pal Musharraff implicated 9102. jexster - 8/8/2008 4:53:08 PM It's about time
Russia Attacks! 9103. jexster - 8/8/2008 5:39:49 PM An expert on international security today warned that all-out war between Russian and Georgia would amount to "the worst crisis in Europe since the end of communism".
Dr Jonathan Eyal, director of studies at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), described Georgia's decision to shell the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, as a brazen effort to humiliate the Russians.
He claimed the sudden escalation in tensions in the region heralded a dangerous possible return of "East-West confrontation".
Crush em
Kazakhstan's threatening to come to Russia's aid against the cowardly criminal in Tbilisi
Leaving McLame flapping his toothless gums .... 9104. jexster - 8/8/2008 5:47:36 PM Liberate South Ossetia!
They even have a flag.
A few hundred t-90's bring to a boil 9105. jexster - 8/8/2008 5:56:17 PM Pravda: "Russia Strikes Back!" 9106. alistairconnor - 8/14/2008 12:05:20 PM The Georgia debacle may well be seen as the nadir of US influence in world affairs.
(Unless it falls even lower, which it undoubtedly would under a McCain presidency, but I'm not prepared to countenance that possibility.)
A foolhardy Caucasian president overplays his hand, thinking that he has US backing and that this enables him to make the Russians back off. The US, absolutely powerless to intervene in the Russian sphere of influence, sits on its hands. The Europeans, deeply divided, wring theirs, and play appeasement. Cool heads in Europe thank their lucky stars that they recently beat back US demands to admit Georgia to NATO... which would have pitched them into war with Russia, when Sakashvili launched his foolhardy adventure.
Of course, this is all playing out exactly as the Kremlin wanted it. Everyone, including McCain, has played into Putin's hands perfectly. It's all part of the modern Great Game -- control of Central Asian oil and gas.
And when the dust settles, Georgia will either be a docile Russian satellite again, or it will be so unstable as to be useless as a conduit to get Central Asian oil while bypassing Russia.
i.e. this little war is the clincher that enables Russia to lock up an effective monopoly on Eurasian oil and gas. Game, set and match. 9107. alistairconnor - 8/14/2008 12:16:49 PM Condi isn't wringing her hands... she's sternly wagging her finger.
"There are any number of opportunities for Russia to reverse course and to demonstrate that it is trying to behave according to 21st century principles," she said. "But, I can assure you that Russia's international reputation and what role Russia can play in the international community is very much at stake here."
Rice stated that the time, when the world would have to deal with the consequences of what happened in South Ossetia and Georgia, would come, although she did not specify what consequences Russia may eventually face.
The US Secretary of State repeated several times that Russia had a lot to lose, including its international reputation and its role in the international community.
Well, she certainly ought to be an authority about great powers who lose their international reputation and role in the international community due to military adventures with a subtext of control of oil supplies...
So how come she gets it so wrong? Russia has indeed demonstrated that it knows how "to behave according to 21st century principles", as inaugurated in 2002 by the USA...
But they have learned some lessons from their precursor, and will not suffer the negative consequences that she foretells. 9108. wonkers2 - 8/14/2008 12:44:09 PM "ISI linked to NATO, India attacks"--sounds like our Pakistani friend pseudoerasmus' work. 9109. wonkers2 - 8/14/2008 2:17:45 PM More troops for Afghanistan--another big mistake?? Futile nation-building trap? 9110. wonkers2 - 8/14/2008 2:22:59 PM I wonder what our former Afghanistan guru, pseudoerasmus, thinks about the situation? 9111. jexster - 8/14/2008 3:30:02 PM Medvedev: I wipe my ass with Georgian territorial integrity 9112. jexster - 8/14/2008 3:32:13 PM 
9113. jexster - 8/14/2008 5:53:46 PM 9110
God Damn Mongorians
9114. alistairconnor - 8/14/2008 6:26:18 PM I wonder what our former Afghanistan guru, pseudoerasmus, thinks about the situation?
Oddly enough, Wonk, he thinks it's gone extraordinarily well. He is now in favour of the intervention, having opposed it originally. 9115. wonkers2 - 8/14/2008 7:54:01 PM As a result of 9-11, few people here in the U.S. question the wisdom of our efforts to democratize/civilize Afghanistan, but our efforts are beginning to look like a mistake to me or at least not in our interest to send a bunch more troops there as Obama and McCain are proposing to do. It's a very tough place that has brought about the downfall of other countries.
Where is pseudoerasmus hanging out these days? 9116. marjoribanks - 8/16/2008 8:16:30 AM Well, with Afghanistan as with other geopolitical matters, it really depends on your perspective. From the American and allied Western point of view, I would not say the ongoing post-9/11 campaign has gone very well. It has been extremely costly, has provided a rallying point for the extremists, and has made the country just safe enough for business that it is now set for world-record harvests of opium in the coming years. More troops, etc, will not particularly help. Plus, I suspect that the US military is angling towards an envisioned day when the US tries to pacify the NWFP and Baluchistan from bases in Afghanistan, which will be another grand historical error on an epic scale.
Then, from the point of view of Pakistan, this whole campaign has been a total disaster which has massively degraded the country's reach and influence in the region. From Iran's point of view, it is a mixed bag. From India's, it has been a great thing.
Putting aside all of that, I might be inclined to agree with Pseuder (if AC has his position right) if he is talking about the Afghans themselves, who have some degree of engagement with the outside world after a very long time. They now enjoy receiving quite vast international aid - much of which is coming in the form of vital infrastructure - and society in the larger towns and cities is being forcibly cracked open, almost at gunpoint, so that some human development advances are undeniably taking place, and it is possible for hundreds of thousands of refugees to return.
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