New Poll: The Russo-Georgia War
As I write this, Russian forces are within 35 miles of Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, and the UN has been unable to come to any agreement about it. What do you think the U.S. should do about this, if anything? Pick your top 1 or 2 choices at the right, and comment on this post about it. For example, if you pick the military option, how would you see that being able to work? (I personally don’t see how, but feel free to let me know your thoughts.) If you say we should not intervene at all, why not?
As this is a quickly changing situation, the polls close Wednesday night. Let us hear from you. Thanks.
Update: Added the “Economic sanctions” option this Tuesday morning. Sorry, those of you who already voted who would have liked to choose this option. But hey, it’s just a poll. It’s not, like, news or anything. 🙂
Filed under: Polls • Russia • War
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My wife is Georgian and she is devestated right now, crying and asking me why American won’t help Georgia when Georgia is the third largest contributer or troops to Iraq. Between sobs she points out to me that if the West lets this action stand, it spells the end of democracy in Eastern Europe. I fear she is right, especially as regards Ukraine and the Baltic states.
Military action would have been feasible if done immediately. We could have inserted troops in Tbilisi and told the Russians that any further incursion would be seen as an action against the US. That would have stopped the Russians. As it stands now, though, there is little to nothing that military action can do except involve us in a conflict that we cannot handle given our commitments elsewhere.
Make no mistake what is happening here. Putin provoked Georgia to intervene in its own territory by shelling Georgia proper, then using massed troops to invade the entire country. This is an attack on a sovereign and democratic state that is a staunch US ally. Diplomatic efforts should be extreme and unflinching. Given Putin’s statement that this action would be carried through to its “logical conclusion,” however, I fear the Georgian government will topple.
My friends and family are in danger, and there is nothing I can do to help, except comfort my wife. These are very sad times for democracy in Eastern Europe.
My brother’s wife is also from Georgia (her family is there; she and my brother live in Massachusetts). I’m waiting to hear from them as to what they have heard as well.