Blaming the Cauldron for Being Black

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=216949&f=28

Silly neo-cons, wars are for soldiers (not pointy headed nerds with little man complexes).

I know the author is probably too young to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, but countries don't like it when you are arming harsh critics in their back yard. Or imagine if Medvedev had made a speech last year calling for the US to be suspended from the G8 for violating the territorial integrity of Iraq.

I know it is appealing to see the world through the lens of US = good and benevolent, people we don't like = bad and evil. The problem is it places us in fundamental conflict with every other country that wants the same rights as us. Why should Kosovo have a right to autonomy but not Ossettia? In the long run 'because we don't like Serbia but we do like Georgia' is not a durable answer.

Richard Cohen actually had a fairly astute piece in the Post on what is happening, his only blunder no realizing that what Russia is doing to Georgia is almost exactly what the Israeli's often do to the Palestinians - when you see political developments moving against you stir up the hornets nest a little to create a pretext for cutting down the tree. I am not saying one or both are wrong. They are just rational actors who look out and see strategic competitors that are politically divided over whether they are willing to engage in a positive sum existence