Russia... at it Again!

Russia... at it Again! ... By: J.D. Longstreet
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It didn’t take Russia long to begin flexing her military muscle, once she got her feet under her again, now did it? Yep! She’s up to her old tricks again, driving her troops across borders and into neighboring countries, stirring up trouble, just like in the old days. Some things just never change…well, not for long, anyway.

So, what is Russia’s incursion into Georgia all about, anyway? OK, to get to the truth and cut through all the garbage, this is a fight between Russia and the United States. Russia is royally PO’ed at the US for messing around in what it considers its backyard. Blame NATO.

You see, The Ukraine and Georgia are on the waiting list to become members of NATO, a US led alliance of nations. Once, an organization for nations along the North Atlantic Ocean, (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Nato long since moved inland…. way inland! This does not sit well with Russia… not at all.

Georgia, in an attempt, we believe, to gain US support in its bid for NATO membership, lent some two thousand troops to the effort in Iraq. Until today Georgia had the third largest contingent of troops serving in Iraq after the US and the UK…. a fact little known by the remainder of the world. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovic Putin didn’t miss it, however. Those Georgian troops are being flown back to Georgia, ASAP, to assist their own country in its struggle with Russia.

Georgia is pro-US… and… the US is pro-Georgia. That irks the living daylights out of the Russians. Maybe it would be more nearly correct to say that it irks Putin. Do not mistake the fact that even though Dimtry Medvedev is the “front man”, as the Russian President, Prime Minister Putin is pulling the strings.

Now that Putin is out of the persistent limelight, after turning the office of President of Russia over to Dimtry Medvedev, he has been freed up to REALLY instigate trouble all over the globe for the US… and he is allowing no grass to grow beneath his feet.

Just a few days ago we learned of Putin’s plans for a Russian Nuclear Bomber base being planned for the Island of Cuba, just 90 miles south of the US mainland. Of course, the Russians vehemently denied it, but nobody can convince me that it is not a tit-for-tat from Putin over the US insistence on placing defensive anti-missile “missile bases” in Putin’s backyard. He is furious about that. The Georgia adventurism, we believe, is all a part of his scheme to rattle America’s cage during what is probably one of the only periods of time when America is in a weakened state, and that is during the closing months of a Presidential election. For all intents and purposes the US government goes into limbo for those critical weeks and it is a prime time for enemies of the US to provoke trouble for the US. Putin is not unaware of the less that stellar leadership in the US Congress, currently, which is to say, basically NONE, and he is bound to take advantage of it. That is exactly what he is doing.

You will have noted, I take it, one of the Russian Air Force’s targets was that vital US supported pipeline, in Georgia, bringing that black gold from the Caspian Sea area. The oil coursing through that petroleum artery allows the US to reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil… and… at the same time, it bypasses Russia … and the other trouble spot in the Middle East… Iran. It is a persistent irritant to the “Russian Bear” now prowling the woods once again.

By the way, that pipeline carries some one million barrels of crude, per day. That is a bit more than one percent of the world’s crude oil output per day! That is HUGE! The oil, itself, comes from the fields of Azerbaijan located near the Caspian Sea. Mostly unknown, those oil fields are thought to hold roughly one-third of the world’s known oil reserves today. And to make matters worse… those vitally important oil fields are immensely important to the US! Crude oil prices, gasoline prices, and, yes, fuel oil prices are bound to skyrocket in a few days just when they had dropped to a level at which American voters could finally see a light at the end of the black, black, tunnel! To make matters worse, those Azerbaijan oil fields are extremely vulnerable to attack from Russian forces.

Even as US President George Bush was speaking to Russia’s new Prime Minister Putin, about the violence in Georgia, Russian tanks were rolling in. The Georgian Ambassador to the US was pleading with the US, and other Georgian friends, for assistance in stopping what can only be referred to as a Russian “Invasion” of Georgia. The US State Department, within hours, sent a message to Russia asking Russia to halt this invasion with a “cease fire” and prepare for a mediator from Washington due, on scene, almost immediately.

The truth is, that any way you parse it, this is Russian aggression, something we became accustomed to during the Cold War One It would now seem that Cold War Two is upon Us!

J. D. Longstreet


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conservative+Russia+US+Nato+Georgia