> In article <2543e$48b754e6$9440b19b$22906@
STARBAND.NET>,
> "Billzz"
starband.net> wrote:
>>>>> On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:36:36 -0400, Harold Burton
>>>>
hotmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that
>>>>>> military
>>>>>> assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia
>>>>>> would
>>>>>> be
>>>>>> viewed as a "declaration of war" by Russia.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Interesting. why should the west care about a couple of provinces
>>>>>that
>>>>>are simply trying to exercise self determination?
>>>>
>>>> The is the USA training the Georgia troops to attack Russians?
>>>
>>> Try again.
>>
>> The army paid for my college degrees and had some input as to content of
>> courses, so I took several in Soviet Studies. Later, as a student at the
>> National War College, I took another, and even got to hear one of the
>> last
>> speeches by W. Averell Harriman, the wartime ambassador. He opened by
>> saying, "You can always trust the Soviet Union. You can always trust the
>> Soviet Union to do exactly what is in their best interest." He then
>> repeated that three times, so nobody could miss his point.
>>
>> One of the things that I learned was that the Soviet Union, always
>> fearing
>> invasion, devised the system of satellite nations to cement in their
>> "Sphere
>> of Influence," an area within which they expected to be the guiding, if
>> not
>> the ruling, power. Across the borders NATO had its own Sphere of
>> Influence,
>> and as long as things stayed that way, peace prevailed.
>>
>> With the breakup of the USSR some old, and some new, nations emerged,
>> with
>> new governments. Georgia was one of them and the province of South
>> Ossetia,
>> ethnically Russian, but part of Georgia, in the USSR, saw itself as
>> getting
>> autonomy, or being more aligned with Russia than Georgia.
>>
>> The important consideration, for the United States, is that Russia
>> considers
>> all of the participants in this to be within the now "Russian Sphere of
>> Influence." In other words, the US, assisting Georgia, is looked upon as
>> an
>> intruder into the domestic affairs of Russia. Certainly former Soviet
>> States, joining NATO, is looked upon as an unneccesary provocation, and
>> while some of the western countries may be tolerated, the case of
>> Georgia
>> may be unacceptable.
>>
>> I would have thought that the US would have known this, but maybe not.
>> Anyway, this is why, from the Russian point of view, the US is looked
>> upon
>> as the provocateur. They thought that the US would respect their "Sphere
>> of
>> Influence." In their minds, the US should not be there.
>
> That was sorta my point.
I noticed, after I posted, that soc.culture.israel is listed. Some Israelis
were also involved in what the Russians will perceive as Israeli
interference within the Russian Sphere of Influence. The Russians have long
memories, and you can count on Israel getting a smacking from the Russian
bear. Whether this will take the form of increased supplies of rockets to
Hezbollah, or nuclear aid to Syria, or Iran, or cutting off Jewish
emigration, or something else, has yet to be seen. I sent a letter to the
editor of the Jerusalem Post (unprinted, as far as I know.) You would think
that a small nation, surrounded by enemies, would be the last to tweak the
Russian bear, and you also think that the US Secretary of State, a so-called
Soviet "expert" would have warned them - but apparently backed them. Israel
will pay for their interference in the domestic affairs of Russia (Russian
view.)
Otherwise, the media hoopla is that the US is supporting Georgian "freedom."
Excuse me? It was Russia that gave Georgia its freedom. The breakaway
regions thought that they had the same rights, and inclined toward Russia.
If everyone wants peace and freedom then the prime directive is to not
support any war. That's any war. From the Russian perspective it is they
who are being interfered with.
