Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Sarah Palin's first interview with Charles Gibson went as expected. She was aggressive, stayed with her messages and avoided controversies. One minor stumble was not knowing the Bush Doctrine. I don't fault her much on that since I don't think the term is widely adopted. I don't think Bush knows the term himself! Unless an independent previously had not known her position on social issues such as abortion and her flip-flops on earmarks, I don't think the interview changed many minds.

The one thing that bothers me the most is the answer to Russia's aggression into Georgia. I think most Americans are weary of Russia and thus may not be bothered by her answer that if Georgia is in NATO, then perhaps we may have to fight the Russians. Other than the fact that an all out of war with Russia may mean the end of civilization, her response to the situation show a lack of understanding of the world and history. Unfortunately her understanding and view are not that different from most of our politicians, including McCain. Even Obama and Biden's stand on this is unclear but I think they would have given a more thoughtful answer than Palin did.

Palin said definitively that Georgia should be admitted into NATO. It seems that anyone in the Warsaw Pact wanting to get into NATO is welcomed by the U.S. This is a dangerous and stupid policy for us. What would adding countries like Georgia do for us? Bush likes it because Georgia and Poland sent troops to Iraq. But they are doing that just to get us to like them. They are weak countries that won't contribute anything to the defense of Europe but will need aid from western countries. Their admission in NATO will make Russia angry and harder to deal with. Can you imagine Russia forming alliances with Mexico and other Central American countries right at the doorsteps of the U.S.?

But the biggest problem is what Palin alluded to. Once Georgia and others are in NATO, we would be obligated to fight with them if they are attacked. Everyone remembers that WWI started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinad, the heir of the Austrian throne. What people tend to forget is that it was all the alliances that made the war spread to all of Europe. Austria asked German support to crush Serbia. Serbia asked Slavic brother Russia to help. But France and Britain who really don't care much about Serbia had entered alliances with Russia. So all the dynamites were in place, only the spark of assassination was needed. At least Russia was a big country and the French thought that Russia can be of help if Germany became too powerful. In our case here, Georgia, Poland and all other former Eastern bloc countries are of no help to us. Unless we want to restart the Cold War there is no reason to add them to NATO.

As I wrote last month I think this move into Georgia is Russia's way of flexing its muscles in response to our approval of Kosovo breaking away from Serbia. Russia is feeling stronger these days because they are making a lot of money from oil. Other than that their basic economy and technology are behind the West. They know that they can't occupy Georgia without losing a lot so they won't stay there for long. Thus there is no need for us to keep poking their eye by inviting countries to join NATO. We should tell these countries that we will support their change to democracy but we will not support stupid acts such as going into South Ossetia. Our main concern should be the Georgia in our country.