This is not just a U.S. thing.
TV pictures showing a German family that was almost killed by russian military near Gori, outside South Ossetia (the mother threw herself over her children to absorb the bullets), is what makes the current news in Germany. A Medvedev who talks utterly rubbish on a press conference in Sochi makes people scared of Russia. It brings up memories of Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait.
I'm not sure that Georgia will be the loser of this - that country has never had so much focus from the rest of the world, and so much sympathy.
Anyway, the first U.S. military planes have arrived in Georgia, Mr. Bush has replaced G8 with G7, and Russia's WTO dreams, which still seem strong according to Mr. Medvedev, are shattered. Additionally, international observers and journalists are able to document, how the Russian army is unable to behave the way that Mr. Medvedev has promised, and this probably only gets worse, unless Russia pulls back. The Russian army is not a precision bomb - it's more like an earthquake that is still rumbling.
Right now, it seems that Russia can trade Georgia for something else that they want, without losing the proclaimed objective of protecting civilians in SO and Abkhazia. I think Georgia's future is determined by Medvedev and Putin's abilities to communicate in the Russian press. They will try to maximize own economic benefit without losing power. |
