EDITORIALS
Russia must withdraw
Europe, U. S. must demand compliance with cease-fire agreement in Georgia
Updated: 08/20/08 7:05 AM
Georgia’s leaders sent their troops into what they consider their province of South Ossetia because they said it was necessary to keep the peace — and because they thought they could get away with it.
They were wrong on both counts. The United States and Europe bear some of the blame for that.
Russian leaders sent their troops into what used to be their republic of Georgia because they said it was necessary to keep the peace — and because they thought they could get away with it.
They were wrong about the first part. Little peace has been created by the Russian government’s action. But it does appear that, for the moment, the Russians were right about the getting-away-with-it bit. It will be mostly up to Europe to turn that around, so that other former Soviet satellites aren’t the next to be knocked about.
It does seem clear now that Georgia foolishly struck the first blow in this fight, raising a fist against troublesome Ossetian separatists with ethnic and political ties to Russia. There is also reason to be critical of pre-war American actions that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili rashly interpreted as a promise of military back-up from the Pentagon should the Russian bear be awakened.
But there is no valid argument for the brutality of the Russian response, sending troops well into Georgia, where they have caused much death and destruction and where they apparently remain despite agreeing to a French-brokered cease-fire and withdrawal plan.
Russia must be told that, in the long run, it won’t get away with such violent over-reactions. It’s difficult, though, to see who has the will and the ability to make such a statement believable.
While Saakashvili for the moment retains his position and most of his country, these events are another example of how it can be dangerous to be a friend of George W. Bush. Another of his personal allies, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, resigned Monday, one step ahead of the impeachment posse.
Both leaders, though, made their own mistakes, Musharraf by dismissing his own supreme court, Saakashvili by reading U. S. support for Georgian membership in NATO as a mutual defense treaty.
There is little the United States can do immediately to improve the situation. European nations, nearer to the action and more worried about the military and economic fall-out from any further re-enlargement of the Russian Empire, will find the burden is mostly on their shoulders.
The issue is vastly complicated by a factor that complicates most of what is going on in the world today: energy.
For one thing, Russia’s vast and rapidly developing petroleum and natural gas supplies have enriched a military establishment that, not that long ago, couldn’t keep its army in coats and its air force in spare parts. For another, even a Russia that wasn’t armed to the teeth would hold much influence over Central Europe because it supplies so much of its energy needs.
Sound familiar? Like the United States in its dealings with the Arab world,
Europe finds itself in a situation where any step that might risk cutting off its oil supplies, even if it would be a step toward world peace, is reluctantly taken.
