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“DO AS i SAY…”

Now we see the real danger of the military, intelligence, financial and moral bankruptcy into which the United States has been placed by the Bush Administration. Why did not our bottomless-black-budgeted spooks know that Vladimir Putin was going to use the Olympics as a cover to pull off a Sedenland-like “rescue” of “put-upon” Soviet citizens, politically bound within the limits of the former Soviet state of Georgia? It is just as well; it did not matter. Dubya continued to kick up his heels in Beijing, even after hearing of the Russian incursion. We had no moral or military clout to do anything about it, at any rate. Putin could only scoff at Bush’s
no-noes” against his trumped-up, unilateral, naked aggression. Had not Georgiie-Boy already done a show-and-tell on that score? His “…not as I do” would not work in this case. Did not Bush know that Putin was capable of such emulation when he peered into his eyes and took stock of his soul?

Several blog postings ago, I noted that Putin would bear watching, after the machinations he pulled in setting himself up as a post-Soviet Union dictator of the new Russia. If I could see that, where the hell was the CIA? After Putin’s brazen assassinations of news people, dissidents—in and outside of Russia—and the brutal suppression of rebelling, former Soviet States, was there any doubt that he was consolidating power, to the end of forming a new Russian federation under his former KGB iron fist? If the West had been serious about NATOizing Georgia, Ukraine, etc. against the realization of that scenario, its sense of intelligence and timing certainly is way off kilter.

So, what do we do now? As Charlie Rangel and these postings have suggested in the past, Congress had better, with all due speed, introduce an obligatory military training program for each and every United States citizen—bar none—of post-high school age—regardless of gender or sexual orientation. That is the only way to make sure that everyone be aware of the world and its dangers, and keep the country in perpetual readiness for every eventuality. Sure, we have a world-class navy, air force and nuclear stockpile—and as the Middle East has taught us, we are well equipped to fight yesterday’s war. Today and tomorrow, we will need all of that muscle, plus an aware and involved citizenry.

We are in a pickle. Even after we find out what really happened in Georgia, what the hell are we going to do about it? All of a sudden, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran have been reduced almost to distraction. Who knew the Russian Bear was coming out of hibernation, and with such fury. We should have known.

There is no excuse for getting caught flatfooted in this case. We did not have to pay creeps such as Chalibi to lie about a closed Saddam Hussein regime. We have sixty plus years of experience spying on the Soviet Union and Russia. As a matter of fact, our secretary of state did her doctoral thesis on the Soviet Union—and speaks Russian, to boot. It is notable that we were training Georgian troops and had people on the ground there. Failing all of that, Google Earth could have alerted us to the fact that Russia was amassing troops on the Georgian border. This is a disgrace! How long are we going to continue to allow insignificant national differences—as opposed to mutually beneficial national interests—to dictate our elections, and leave us in the hands of incompetent, ideological, nincompoops and scoundrels of the first order?

Another thing to keep in mind: Pretty soon, the only access to our people orbiting in the space station will be via Russian space vehicles! Good luck to whomever it is who takes that uneasy seat in the Oval Office, next January.