Facing Off

Good grief, we thought we'd been through all of this. The nightmare is back. A big territory-and-resource-hungry country tormenting another, smaller neighbour. That's the way the world of geography and territoriality goes. And here we thought we'd finally advanced beyond that. Overlooking, of course, transitory "peace-keeping" ventures by countries we respect and trust who take it upon themselves to similarly invade and occupy. Life is so complicated.

Still, the current reality is that Russian troops have been deployed well inside the sovereign borders of Georgia. The facade of cease-fire pledges aside, nothing really has stopped the Russian advance into Georgia, well beyond the borders of the two provinces that Russia purports to be engaged in protecting from Georgian predation. The invading troops have been busy destroying Georgian military installations. Russian naval vessels destroyed have Georgian vessels.

The Russian air force bombed Georgia's major airport, and destroyed the country's military planes. In possession of a tiny fraction Russia's inventory of military ships, planes, armoured personnel carriers, tanks in any event, Georgia has been reduced to military-equipment-penury. A sea embargo, refusing entry of grains into Georgia's port has occurred. There is a food shortage in the country. A hostile attack of her Web sites left Tbilisi shut out of the Internet.

Towns and villages invaded, swept clear of residents, as 100,000 Georgians are now displaced, internal refugees. They're the fortunate ones, those who were able to escape the murderous rampage of the Russian forces aided by South Ossentian militias. Pillaging and looting, a general breakdown of civilized behaviours in an all-out effort to cripple the country beyond easy recovery.

And in echoes of the post-WWII U.S.-Berlin airlift, the United States is ferrying humanitarian aid to Georgia via military aircraft. Having had to assure the Kremlin that U.S. troops would not be facing off with their own, and that the shipments to Georgia constitute medicines, tents, food. Which hardly allayed Russian suspicions that military equipment was being smuggled into Georgia.

American plans are that two hospital ships will be sent to Georgia's Black Sea ports, and that Moscow should be prepared to allow them entry. These initiatives greatly shoring up Georgian resolve in the face of such an immense national calamity. Although its citizens will not soon forget that the military support they anticipated would result immediately on the Russian invasion did not materialize.

Russia's foreign minister has informed the world - and in particular the United States - that Georgia "can forget about" its territorial integrity, that the international community recognizes as comprising a whole, including the two breakaway states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Just desserts for Georgia having committed countless "atrocities" against its minorities.

Russia has a fine solution to the possibility that its own population may somehow question what has been occurring in Georgia, by bruiting it about through officially-sanctioned news media that the United States initiated the conflict, in an effort to restore former conditions of duo super-power enmity and a continuation of the arms race.

Russia is stalwartly standing up to the world's singularly first-class bully.