The Big Lie and the Big Test for the West

The Big Lie and the Big Test for the West

It felt as though I’d been transported back to the 50’s this week, observing Russia’s invasion of Georgia. Putin and Medvedev speak of Georgian aggression against helpless Ossetians and then of genocide as just cause for their actions while they activate the armed insurgency they’ve built, setting it loose on ethnic Georgian’s. The stench of Soviet era arrogance was only too evident when Russian military authorities were asked by western media to go to the cemetery in Gori where the thousands of civilian casualties supposedly killed by the Georgian military were buried, only to be told that it was too dangerous for westerners to travel there due to the western support for Georgian atrocities. For the record, according to Human Rights Watch, civilian casualties are actually in the dozens. This conclusion is bolstered by reports from Gori hospitals that treated hundreds of wounded. If thousands were killed, tens of thousands would be wounded. It just doesn’t add up, but it doesn’t have to. It’s just another big lie for Russian public consumption, designed to give internal justification to Russian aggression, not international justification. The Russian’s know there is no international justification for it’s actions, no U.N. resolution, no overt act against Russia or any other plausible reason for it to invade another country. It doesn’t need them. You see, for them, it’s a test of the West. They want to see what we will do – they think we’ll do nothing and it turns out that they are right.

For those of you too busy with your fantasy sports leagues or Michael Phelps-mania to notice something as important Russia’s return to its expansionist, conquering ways, I suggest you wake up. This is an incredibly important moment for the “West” – if such a thing even exists anymore – and we are not rising to the occasion. So, please stop updating your Facebook status or downloading movies and, for a moment, use the Internet to inform yourself about the horrific crime against humanity that is unfolding before our eyes.. Maybe you could even read an article about it and Russia for more than thirty seconds, instead of just “scanning”, looking for “infotainment”. It’s important that these events be put into context, the deadly context that is Russia’s imperialist quest for a return to its perceived former glory. Russia’s lust for global prestige and power made an action of this sort inevitable and those who watch Russia have been warning the west for years that something like this was coming. It's amazing to me that so many who drink from the teat of freedom everyday just don’t seem to care whether another fledgling nation can stay free or not anymore. Maybe if we could make it into a “Green” cause, then I would hear an uproar from the “progressives”. Where is the outrage from the "progressives" over the 100,000 ethnic Georgian refugees who have lost everything, fleeing Russian tanks for their lives? The lack of outrage leaves me scared and sad.

There are so many aspects of this tragedy that are important to understand that I find it hard to even know where to start. Perhaps a little history is in order. Georgia was the first former Soviet republic to spin off, back in the early ‘90s, a heady time for those of us who hoped against hope that democracy would eventually come to the long suffering people of eastern Europe. Eduard Shevardnadze seduced us with his daring leadership in the early days, and then broke our hearts with his corruption. The bloodless revolution of ’04 gave new hope, returning Georgia to legitimate democratic rule. However, all the while a resurgent Russia kept threatening and meddling in Georgian affairs covertly and overtly. Simultaneously, Putin consolidated his iron-fisted grip over Russia, stealing billions in private property, repressing dissent, jailing and murdering opponents while Russia stopped evolving as a democracy and became an oligarchy, ruled by Putin cronies, rife with corruption from top to bottom. Simultaneously, Putin capitalized on the Russian public’s deep shame over it’s cold war drubbing and reflexive respect for the “strong man”, focusing his steely, unswerving gaze ahead, promising to lead his people to back to glory. His rule has become a cult of personality where the law is secondary. The Russian people have eagerly grabbed hold of him, following him wherever he took them. How can you blame them after the rheumy eyed Yeltsin? I remember when I began to truly understand how Putin was grabbing power without a popular backlash. In his last election campaign, I watched one of his campaign advertisements. No mention of policies were necessary, just pictures of Putin in action, looking strong and handsome and sexy girls oohhing and ahhing, with an unhidden sexual tinge. Putin will restore Russia to it’s former potency, it seemed to promise. How could the Russian people resist?

On another front, there is oil. Never has another commodity made so many ruthless tyrants so powerful. Ask a Russian why they like Putin and they will invariably mention the government’s targeted largess, such as computers in schools or other evidence of progress (they almost always mention his love of “sport” too, meaning that he exercises – George Bush does too, btw – what the hell does that have to do with anything?). Putin, very wisely, simply took the largest petroleum and gas assets from private owners and kept them for the government, allowing him to gain popular support by attacking greedy capitalists, something Russians were already suspicious of and funding populist, high profile government projects that bought him favor with a poverty-stricken and corruption-weary populace. Somehow, they forgive him his and his inner circle’s accumulation of billions in wealth along the way. His personal power culminated in a change of law allowing him to circumvent Russian term limits, and being appointed by his vassal President as Prime Minister, a perch from which he can rule Russia for life. None of this would have been possible without the oil windfall created by rising oil prices over the last years. It's the currency he uses to buy off the Russian people.

Perhaps a look at Putin himself is in order. The child of a factory worker and soldier, his family was seared by the experience of WWII, losing his oldest brother during the siege of Leningrad, while his father served in submarines and then in NKVD sabotage missions. He is an ardent Russian nationalist who worked his way up first through the KGB and then through the labyrinth that is Russian politics, as well as doing a stint in academia. He’s well educated in international affairs, is a strategic thinker and is very smart and sure of himself. He’s good looking and well groomed, and knows how to charm – witness his seduction of George Bush. His rise to power from very humble beginnings and his deft political sense have earned him great adulation from the Russian people. He's rightly seen as a true patriot and friend of the Russian people, but he's not a democrat, he's a nationalist, and he's leading Russia through a ruthless exercise of power not by empowering the people, but by manipulating them. He's a very dangerous man.

With this as prologue, hopefully one can begin to assemble a fuller picture of these events. Russia’s aggression against Georgia is calculated, just in the way that the Soviet’s would test the west during the cold war. They’ve waited until our weakest moment with the west divided, a lame-duck U.S. president, an American public war-weary from Iraq and Afghanistan, all while counting on an always feckless Europe, to take the first step in their expansion plans. We’ve been caught flat-footed, with the “French Bush”, Sarkozy, as our only ally, mouthing empty words and taking little meaningful action. They will act with impunity, and while some international bodies will squeal, Putin has already received his answer. He can act freely within former Soviet republics and he will continue to do so, to the overwhelming approval of the Russian public.

So where do you stand? Would you back U.S. military action to defend Georgian national sovereignty and it’s territorial integrity? Were we to implement a no-fly zone over Georgia and challenge the Russian naval blockade, would you support it? If it came down to putting NATO troops on the ground on Georgia’s borders, how would you respond? History says very clearly that Russians respect power. We clearly have right on our side and military superiority over the Russians at this point. Should we wait until an even more emboldened and stronger Russia acts at a later date in another place, perhaps in a greyer situation? Russian territorial expansion is inevitable. It seems we’ve already written off Georgia. What country is next?