What To Do With Russia…
Ok what to do with Russia? It seems that there is a new power struggle yes? Between the West and Russia, yes?
Well, not so quick. My brother who works in Russia and keeps me up to date with the events within the land has a different story. Essentially what is happening in Georgia is very similar to what happened with Kosovo. The difference is that Kosovo wanted to be nearer to the West and the Georgian states want to be nearer to Russia. But we can debate this issue round and round and round.
The real question is what do you do with Russia? Answer it depends on your nationality.
My brother told me that if you are an English speaker and American, you might as well get the heck out of the country. In his words, "American’s are as loved as they were 20 years ago."
So then I asked what about Europe and the non-English speakers? His answer was, "no problem whatsoever. Especially if you are a German speaker, then they welcome you with open arms."
There you have it folks. If you are an English speaker you basically buggered in Russia since they think you are an American. If you are a German speaker or French speaker or other European you are pretty well golden.
I am not going to pass judgment, but I find this very interesting and still need to digest it to figure out what it means in the big picture sense.
Hello There Mr Roboto!
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2 Comments Add your ownSubscribe
1. Jason Coleman | August 28th, 2008 at 1:13 am
The whole Russia, Georgia, Ossetia thing is pretty messy.
From what I can tell, the Georgians were pretty brutal with their invasion to take back control of the area. That may seem okay (it’s their country right? and we did the same during our own civil war here in the US) but they had been leading Ossetia on with talk of independence and letting them govern themselves for the past x years.
So Russia feels a need to “protect the Ossetians”, which I think is be a bit of an exaggeration. Were they waiting for a reason to reclaim Ossetia?
But then Russia had peace-keeping troops in the country who were killed. And you can believe that if US peace-keeping troops are killed somewhere, some bombs are being dropped. Some shit is hitting some fans. Right or wrong, Russia had some cause to fight back… to do something.
However, once they start fighting, it’s a slippery slope. Where do you stop? You secure your troops. Then you secure Ossetia. But then the Georgians could forge a counter attack… so you need to invade Georgia and damage the Georgian war machine to protect yourself further.
Now you’re invading Georgia, and crossing some lines.
I’d be content to say that we have no idea what is going on over there, and I wish we had an ally in the area we could trust to rely on their better judgment.
And the hypocrisy of everyone over here getting upset and saying things like “countries don’t invade other countries in the 21st century” is… interesting, annoying, frustrating, idiotic.
2. Christian | August 28th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I did not write what my brother really said with respect to Georgia and left it at round, and round, and round. I said that because like you said, “I wish we had an ally… we could trust…”
Each side says their thing…
What bothers me in this entire situation is what my brother said with respect to America, and English speakers.
I like America, I have many American friends, but when the current administration was elected for the first time I said to my wife, “Oh what can happen, I mean it is not like he can do anything…”
That is why I truly truly hope Obama is elected. This polarization of the world is not good and it has to stop. As Michael Moore said, “At least with Clinton we could walk the streets in other countries without getting threats of being attacked.” Otherwise I truly do wonder how much longer America will be able to support herself…
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