Russia pressed the United States on Wednesday to choose between "a real partnership" with Moscow or an "illusory" relationship with U.S. ally Georgia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday says the United States should choose sides.
Washington said it's sticking with Georgia.

"As to choosing, the United States has made very clear that it is standing by the democratically elected government of Georgia," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday.

She spelled out the Bush administration's stance after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Georgia's government "a special project for the United States."

cnn

I cannot believe that each new day seems to bring a new development that threatens to bring us back to the "good old days" of hating Russia as the counterpoint to everything we hold dear.

The latest installment:  The New York Times is now reporting on a new agreement for a project that has been in the works for some time, a missle defense system based in Poland.  Check it out here

the gem from the article:

She [Dana Perino] said it was not an attempt to antagonize Russia, which opposes the missile defense system.

crossposted to Docudmarma

The Economic Crisis defined by the neocons, isn't the fact that folks are losing their homes/jobs/retirements, etc.  No, Economic Crisis for the neocons is the fact that folks are finally waking up to the fact that our country has been robbed blind and these sleepy folks may soon be seeking justice and/or blood.

The Political Crisis defined by the neocons isn't the fact that our politicians and government have been bought by corporations and are corrupt to the core.  No, Political crisis for the neocons is the fact that folks are finally waking up to the fact that our politicians and government agencies have been bought by corporations and are corrupt to the core.

Its a pickle for the neocons.....how can they continue with business as usual when so many folks are on to them.

Mikhail Saakashvili is in the same position as Slobodan Milosevic.  The Kosovar and Ossetian conflicts are nearly identical, and Russia wants to put him on trial for war crimes... just like the West planned to do with Milosevic. Saakashvili has nothing to rely on but propaganda, press spin and the surprising restraint shown by Russia up to this point, along with the irrational support of a public that rallies around him when the country is at war.  The same thing happened in Yugoslavia... Serbs watched their country destroyed and rallied around the idiot who got them

First off, no one is innocent in the situation in the Caucasus.  Georgia did invade South Ossetia, and initially displayed an overwhelming military presence of their own until the Russians came in and retaliated.

And Russia used this as an opportunity and an excuse to have a show of force in their own backyard.

What puzzles me, is that those in the State Department are criticizing Russia for "disproportionate show of force" when we did the same thing in Iraq.  In many ways, our invasion of Iraq was a bigger version of what Russia is up to.  

I suppose that invading/occupying foreign lands, and destabilizing regions is the United States' job.

This is HUGE.

Israeli Newspaper Haaretz is reporting that the Bush Administration has turned down Israel's request for weapons to help it attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

U.S. rebuffs Israeli request for arms geared toward Iran strike

The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran.

A red light from Bush makes an Israeli attack on Iran less likely. This also makes it less likely that the U.S. would be dragged into a regional conflict following an Israeli attack on Iran.

Becoming embroiled in a regional war would be too high a price for the U.S. to pay to preserve Israel's nuclear monopoly in the region (if that's what is even at stake here).

Maybe the liberalism of San Franciscans is overstated. But new numbers suggest it isn't. That's why I'm moving to this progressive mecca. I want to be around people who are as enlightened as I am.

I can't stand it. This will probably not be much a of a diary. Just rant.

I know you all are probably watching the cream of sports talking heads over there. Over here, on Pearl TV, we have someone named Don giving US sports commentary. (At least they're not at in love with themselves, the commentators never give their last names or identify Pearl TV.)

Anyway Don is just flailing away with our typical us ignorance, referring to the Greeks as "Grecians" and rewriting American history.

Did you know that "every schoolchild knows our national anthem was written during our fight for independence"? Don asserts it with complete confidence. "Every school child knew it meant that the flag was stiull waving during the battle and we would have our independence no matter what." Francis Scott Key, born in 1779, was a prodigy, but still....

From today's Pravda:

Georgia, Ossetia and Public Opinion

If the people of the world are being asked to judge the actions of the Russian Federation through press reports based on the information that is presented to them, then it would be a good idea to begin from a viewpoint whereby the international media presents the truth and not some half-baked subjective attempt to package the story in a way that is hostile to Moscow.

The US is being hostile to Moscow, alright, and both McCain and Obama had harsh words for Russia today.

Why I think this is a very poor idea:

I am not sure how much U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad was freelancing before the Security Council on Sunday and how much administration policy he was voicing:

http://palimpsest.net/

Summary:

The economic and political collapse of American society (and therefore many other societies) is described here as a warning to those who would support or at least tolerate new aggression in the Middle East by the United States. It is suggested that elite groups in American society would welcome such a collapse as it would allow for "totalitarian capitalism" to overwhelm "anemic democracy."

While this possibility is extremely plausible, these elites also presumably run the risk of losing much of their global power through an economic collapse as well as damaging resource infrastructure in the Middle East for the next half century. It is highly unlikely these forces are unaware of such consequences. Therefore, the destruction described in this article can also be taken as evidence that the Bush Administration is bluffing and highly unlikely to go any farther than a Clinton-style missile strike. Indeed, the United States’ political dependency on Iran has long been known. See Robert Scheer’s article last year in The Nation.

Since I am not a fan of the Olympics and being terribly tired of Edwards diaries and nervous as hell about the Russia/Georgia conflict ...

I needed a diversion as I count down the clock (less than 3 hours now) to my 49th birthday and instead of thinking about what a crotchety "old man" I have become or dwelling on all of my mistakes and misfortunes, I have been pondering about all of my travels and excellent road trips that I have taken in my near 5 decades of life.

Har Homa and construction of the wall dividing Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

In defiance of the U.S. sponsored ‘road map’ for peace, Israel issued a tender for the construction of 447 housing units in Har Homa. This would effectively cut Har Homa off from the rest of the occupied West Bank. Arab East Jerusalem would be encircled by a wall of settlements.

If health care were an Olympic sport, how would the United States perform?

As someone who has been without health coverage for over 4 years, I'm pretty aware that access to our health care system sucks.   I'm all for using garlic to try and knock out systemic or localized infections, liberal usage of a neti pot to knock out sinus problems, but sometimes having access to a modern health care system would be a good thing.

Here's an interesting statistic I wasn't familiar with...The World Health Organization ranks the United States health care system as 37th in the world. 37th!!!  Another interesting stat is that Morocco came in 8 ahead of us, Morocco ranked 29th. Morocco....you know, that not-so-large country on the northern portion of Africa, Morocco? Yeah, them.

Check The VIDEOS OUT! WAKE UP!

Mr. Peter Brookes do you really expect us to believe your propaganda? Your article in newspaper titled "Hugo's Arms Spree" is worst than George Bush approval ratings.  I hope this message gets to your peterbrookes@heritage.org website. In fact I hope this message gets across to all the news media who report on Hugo Chavez. Mr. Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Please sir next time take you write an article at least pretend that your a smart individual.

I didn't see this diaried yet, and I have yet to ever write a diary, so if I make mistakes, please forgive me.

U.S., Iraq Close to Pullout Terms

The AP is reporting that the United States and Iraq are close to a deal on timetable for withdrawal.  The article states that combat troops would be withdrawn by 2010, with remaining troops to be pulled out 3 years later.

The deal seems to be hinging on the U.S.'s request for legal immunity for U.S. troops.  

A timetable is part of a security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Both sides stress the deal is not final and could fall apart over the issue of legal immunity for American troops.

As someone who has been without health coverage for over 4 years, I'm pretty aware that access to our health care system sucks.   I'm all for using garlic to try and knock out systemic or localized infections, liberal usage of a neti pot to knock out sinus infections, but sometimes having access to a modern health care system would be a good thing.

Here's an interesting statistic I wasn't familiar with...The World Health Organization ranks the United States health care system as 37th in the world. 37th!!!  Another interesting stat is that Morocco came in 8 ahead of us, Morocco ranked 29th. Morocco....you know, that not-so-large country on the northern portion of Africa, Morocco? Yeah, them.