O Russia, O Georgia

Spot the villain in last week's war:

For Seamus Milne who fantasizes this about the current war, the villain is obvious and utterly predictable for someone of his beliefs:

Could these by any chance be the leaders of the same governments that in 2003 invaded and occupied - along with Georgia, as luck would have it - the sovereign state of Iraq on a false pretext at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives? (H/T: NWO)

Norm with his lightsaber again, here, pokes Milne's straw Bush

For the Iconoclast, it s the Russians:

The dispute in Georgia will find some temporary brokered settlement. But the bloody assault unleashed by Putin adds new dangers and difficulties to Europe. Once again, Russia threatens peace, stability, the rule of law and the rights of sovereign democracies on its border.

For Nick Clark, it is clearly the Georgians:

"I've decided to finish the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace. The safety of our peacekeeping forces and civilian population has been restored. "

The aggressor has been punished, having sustained considerable losses. Its armed forces have been disorganised," he added.

The aggressor certainly has been punished [says Nick]. But this is a crushing defeat not only for Georgia and their neurotic, hysterical, and unbelievably wallyish President, but for the entire Russophobic movement.

I'm more inclined to agree with the Shark Blog's scepticism about the pure virtue or mendacity of either side, as expressed in his two posts. The following points struck me as particularly incisive:

* "Late Marriage," an Israeli film from about 10 years ago, is a good introduction to Georgian culture. [my thoughts exactly, when I read this comment about warm and gentle Georgians, in a post in the Iconoclast]

* Yet other views begin not so much with issues of justice as with issues of wisdom. It appears that Georgia began the fighting. Its leaders may have hoped for American, European, or even Israeli assistance, and did not take account of the prospect that Russia would invade and no one else would do more than criticize.

* The comments of Israeli leaders about the Russian onslaught have been tamer than those coming out of the White House. No point in little Israel threatening big Russia, which holds many of the cards in this region and has not always shown itself to be restrained.


* Seymour Yakobshvili, a minister in the Georgian government, is accusing Israel of being a traitor against his country for not continuing the arms shipments or otherwise helping in its predicament. [a sentiment as depressingly predictable as snow in a Canadian winter].


Addendum:

"We shouldn't make any moral judgments on this war. Stopping the war, that's what we're interested in," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner explained, adding, "Don't ask us who's good and who's bad here." (source)