Zombie Pirate Ninja Monkey

The Supreme Soviet Demands the Liquidation of the Georgians as a Class!

I despair again at the vapidity and foolishness of the British press and public.  A few people run in circles slightly faster than some other people born elsewhere, and the Russians correctly calculate that they can shell cities without the risk of front-page coverage (not that our medals are for running: we win in nice, expensive sports like yachting and horse-riding where those nasty, third world countries can't compete).

David Milliband, British Foreign Secretary and would-be Prime Minister, has written a surprisingly well-judged piece for today's Times, on the subject of Russia's invasion of Georgia.  Given his position, he has to judge his words carefully, and so he cannot say aloud what the West has just been vividly reminded of: that Russia remains a backwards bandit state, flailing around and attacking its weaker neighbours

One facet that which has intrigued me, is just what constituency the Russians were playing to.  The Ossetians and Abkhazians are irrelevancies to Putin and his President, Medvedev: mere excuses upon which to act.  The key pipeline which runs through Georgia on its way from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, bypassing Russian soil and denying them a monopoly on gas exports from the post-Soviet states, is beyond the reach of the Russian armies in any scenarios short of full occupation (although the Russians have been desperately trying to damage it).  The Georgians, far from being diverted from their pro-NATO course, will be confirmed in it, while NATO itself, far from seeing Georgia and Ukraine (the real prize for Russia) as the unaffordable liabilities the Russians seek to portray them as, will now be convinced of the need to secure their democracies.  And as Milliband states, the non-aligned movement will not be delighted by this rogue semipower.

It is unfortunate that Milliband has been rather less vocal thus far in his dealings with the Russians than his article would suggest.  The main fault there, however, lies with Brown, revealed in foreign affairs as in domestic ones as a vaccilating and weak man, perfectly happy to visit Africa and bounce children on his knee but incapable of associating himself with the tough choices that the British premiership demands of its holder.  His pusillanimosity and near-invisibility amount to nothing more than self-interested cowardice and a desire to lay low and ride out the storm.  Sarkozy may have been duped and embarassed by Russian lies when they agreed to his withdrawal plans, but at least he tried.  The British government is being shown up in international affairs by the moral stance of the French.  It's that bad.

Environmentalists should be delighted: more than ever, as this fresh episode reveals the foolishness of being beholden for fossil fuel energy to a rogue state, prone to erratic violence and unconstrained by the rule of law: ask BP about how the Russians are threatening their staff and stealing their investments, and just what Brown did for them; ask the British police about the Litvinenko polonium murder; ask the Chechens who have been purged; ask the Polish who have been threatened with a Russian nuclear strike for co-operating with the West.  Or ask the Russian state-owned television and press and see how far you get.

I also don't see George Galloway and his coalition of leftists, fascists and other religious extremists organising any marches through London, irregardless of the ethnic cleansing and targetted killings of the Russian state.  I don't see the simple-minded fellow-travellers of suburbia, nor their immature, irresponsible student cohorts, flooding the capital with their banners, despite finally getting to witness a genuine war for oil.  Is it because the Georgians are Christians, or because the Russians simply aren't American?