Yes, they went there.

But hey, you can’t say we didn’t warn Palin. I railed against that idiotic “Russia/Alaska” assertion from day one, but the McCain camp continued to push it. And so they have to deal with copious amounts of ridicule and scorn. Not just because the point itself was dumb, but also because Palin [...]

I watched part of CNN’s “The Next President: A World of Challenges” forum on Sunday, but I missed this bit that reveals Colin Powell not only saying that Georgia started it, but it also appears that he backs away a bit from McCain’s response to the crisis.

As I’ve said before, Colin Powell’s endorsement could be [...]

Just watch…

That’s right. Sarah Palin has foreign relations experience because Alaska is near Russia.
Wow.
I also love how the other guy on panel talks about how politics is all about exceeding expectations. And since expectations are extremely low for Palin, she’ll be able to impress people.
I’m sorry, but isn’t that exactly how we got into this [...]

Andrew Sullivan pens one of the more level headed walks through the post Cold War era and details where we find ourselves now and where we must go…

The end of the Cold War was an opportunity to create a new one. For some, we now realize, the Cold War was not about democratic values versus [...]

And makes a lot of sense…
“Obviously, America should encourage both countries to back down and resolve their differences peacefully,” explains Barr. But “the status of South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, another Russian-supported separatist zone within Georgia, matters a lot more to Russia, on which the two territories border, than to the U.S. Moreover, Washington [...]

John McCain’s latest editorial is entitled “We Are All Georgians” and I have to say pretty bluntly that McCain absolutely does not speak for me.
First off, McCain’s not the President. Obviously he knows this, but when he says something so broad it feels like he’s speaking for America. Perhaps this isn’t what he meant, but [...]

Reports today that Russian forces have left South Ossetia and are moving toward Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi are troubling to say the very least. If Russia does indeed try to take the entire country by force and overthrow the government, we’re looking at a brand new geo-political ball game. Now, there’s no indication that permanently [...]

Greg Djerejian echoes what many in the blogosphere are saying about McCain’s hardline stance…
An honorable man who served his country well, it is clear his time has past and his grasp on the most basic foreign policy calls we’ll need to make in the coming years is very tentative indeed. He’ll be surrounded by second-tier [...]

At least that’s the latest report. We probably won’t have confirmation on this until sometime later today.
From NY Times:
MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia announced Tuesday that he had ordered a halt to his country’s military operation in Georgia, although he did not say that troops were pulling out and he insisted that [...]

I’ve been incorrectly saying “Ossetians” so I’ll use the correct verbiage from here on out. (Looks like both can be used, according to Mikhail Gorbachev)
This little factoid comes from the Times Online, which provides a very good timeline of what has gone down in the past, and sums it up as such…
Russia’s policy is driven [...]

This from Telegraph…
Mr Saakashvilli may also have banked on support from his closest ally, US president George W Bush, whose administration is said to have given tacit support for a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in the believe that the territory could be recaptured within 48 hours.
Obviously this is unconfirmed, but it would make a [...]

Today he asked the following…
When the “civilized world” expostulated with Russia about Georgia in 1924, the Soviet regime was still weak. In Germany, Hitler was in jail. Only 16 years later, Britain stood virtually alone against a Nazi-Soviet axis. Is it not true today, as it was in the 1920s and ’30s, that delay and [...]

Obama gains 2 from yesterday to retake a sizable lead when compared to polling during the rest of the campaign. Meanwhile, McCain is still having trouble breaking the 44% barrier…a number he hasn’t climbed above since June 24th.

And on the Georgia/Russia conflict, Gallup agrees with my assessment that it’ll have not negligible effect…
The dramatic [...]

For those who, like me, are looking for a more comprehensive but still layman-oriented analysis of the Russian/Georgian military conflict, check out Charles King’s article in the Christian Science Monitor. Basically, we’re witnessing two nations making very poor decisions. I think King hits on the raw truth of this conflict when he writes:
Russia illegally attacked [...]

Given the recent flare up in Georgia yesterday and into today, it was expected that the candidates would have to take a position. Both don’t view Russia’s actions as justified, but as Politico points out this represents one of the campaign’s first “3 a.m.” moments and could give us a glimpse into how the candidates [...]

I hope this guy defeats Putin, but the odds are against him.

I love his line about building democracy in Iraq at the expense of building democracy in Russia. I also like how he breaks down Putin’s oil strategy. It makes perfect sense.
Why we haven’t focused more on Russia is beyond me. Well, no, I know [...]