The Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense will assist the Party or Parties being attacked, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
A new challenge has arisen to test the strength, resolve and scruples of the old cold war alliance. As Russia has invaded a quasi-member state.
The alliance has failed to respond in any meaningful way except to weakly call for a cessation of violence and a return to the status quo ante bellum, all the while Russian Tanks keep pushing further and further into Georgian territory and bombs continue to fall on cities outside of the contested South Ossetia region, and now it appears that the Russians are determined to blow up the main oil pipeline that goes through neither Russia or Iran, a source of American and European Oil.
The United States has been caught with its pants down, the end of the cold war saw that the Soviet Union 'military industrial complex' was a sham and that all the years of talk were just bluster. This action in Georgia may very well prove that the United States is not only war weary from Afghanistan and Iraq but along with her European allies are neutered by the prospects of facing the Bear, after all no one in modern history has outright defeated Russia on the field of battle (The Ottomans, French, Nazi Germans).
George Bush may claim to see Czar Putin's soul, and perhaps he does: but what he's not on is that he sees exactly what the rest of the world sees, a calculating man of iron who's bent on restoring Russia's place in the world at the expense of Western Europe and their North American allies even if it means propping up regimes that are belligerent and antithetical to the definition of modern liberal democracy.
These actions in Georgia should perhaps be looked at through a different lens, retribution. Retribution for our actions in declaring Kosovo a free nation, which was followed by our other Western European Allies and much bellicose blubber by the bear and why not, Russia protested our support of the Kosovo war campaign, which was against their fellow slavic peoples, despite the murderousness of the Serbian leader. Retribution for even considering letting Georgia join the alliance and further encroach in what was the former Soviet's sphere of influence, retribution for trying to put a missle defense shield in Czech Republic and Poland if we're trying to defend our allies against missle attacks from Iran - which they saw through.
So what can and what should America do now?
The alliance has failed to respond in any meaningful way except to weakly call for a cessation of violence and a return to the status quo ante bellum, all the while Russian Tanks keep pushing further and further into Georgian territory and bombs continue to fall on cities outside of the contested South Ossetia region, and now it appears that the Russians are determined to blow up the main oil pipeline that goes through neither Russia or Iran, a source of American and European Oil.
The United States has been caught with its pants down, the end of the cold war saw that the Soviet Union 'military industrial complex' was a sham and that all the years of talk were just bluster. This action in Georgia may very well prove that the United States is not only war weary from Afghanistan and Iraq but along with her European allies are neutered by the prospects of facing the Bear, after all no one in modern history has outright defeated Russia on the field of battle (The Ottomans, French, Nazi Germans).
George Bush may claim to see Czar Putin's soul, and perhaps he does: but what he's not on is that he sees exactly what the rest of the world sees, a calculating man of iron who's bent on restoring Russia's place in the world at the expense of Western Europe and their North American allies even if it means propping up regimes that are belligerent and antithetical to the definition of modern liberal democracy.
These actions in Georgia should perhaps be looked at through a different lens, retribution. Retribution for our actions in declaring Kosovo a free nation, which was followed by our other Western European Allies and much bellicose blubber by the bear and why not, Russia protested our support of the Kosovo war campaign, which was against their fellow slavic peoples, despite the murderousness of the Serbian leader. Retribution for even considering letting Georgia join the alliance and further encroach in what was the former Soviet's sphere of influence, retribution for trying to put a missle defense shield in Czech Republic and Poland if we're trying to defend our allies against missle attacks from Iran - which they saw through.
So what can and what should America do now?
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