Max Boot: Stand Up to Russia
Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 9:12:24 am PDT
Max Boot’s op-ed on the situation in Georgia: Stand up to Russia.
It took the Red Army — excuse me, the Russian army — only two days to secure Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Now Russia is pressing its attacks into the heart of Georgia, threatening to cut the major east-west highway and vital oil pipeline. Moscow’s ultimate goal remains unclear, but it may well be to topple the democratically elected government of President Mikheil Saakashvili and replace him with a pro-Kremlin stooge. That is what the Russians did in Chechnya in 1999-2000.
The difference is that, while Chechnya had aspirations of nationhood, Georgia has already achieved it. Since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, it has been a fully sovereign country. More recently, as a result of the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia has become a democracy — admittedly an imperfect democracy, but with far greater rule of law than Russia. By crossing Georgia’s borders, the Russians have committed their worst violation of international law since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
At a time like this, it is vital for the leaders of the West to stand together and make clear that this aggression will not stand. This is no time for weaselly statements of moral equivalence claiming that Georgia brought this war on itself or that Russia’s response is merely “disproportionate” — as if there were a “proportionate” level of aggression that would be justified. Whatever the details of the clash that began last week between Georgia and the breakaway, pro-Russia province of South Ossetia, there can be no excuse for Russia’s invasion. The presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland were on the mark in their demand that “aggression against a small country in Europe ... not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers.”
Boot’s piece prompted a vicious attack from Russia’s propaganda machine: From Russia with Bile.
