Posted by Davy Bui on August 14th, 2008 in Politics

I posted some quick thoughts on the Russian-Georgian conflict a few days ago. Since then, I have read too many articles and editorials filled with finger-wagging (bad Russia, bad!), moralizing (how dare the Russians violate another sovereign country), sermonizing (now is the time for the West to put Russia in its place) and plain-old fantasizing (Russia has lowered their standing in the world). While some of these articles emanated from politicians who have no choice but to spew nonsense (it’s a requirement of the job), many have come from respectable news sources.

Truth is hard to find but nothing will stop you from reaching it more effectively than ideology and follow-the-crowd cheerleading. In the past, I’ve mentioned Saul Alinsky, the great labor organizer but once again, his philosophy rings out today: we must see the world as it is today, not as we wish it to be. Only then can we take steps to transfer the former into the latter. So if, in reality, you are the lowest man on the totem pole, accept that that is where you are today. There is no point in denying it or railing against it. Accept the position and then begin laying the ground to change the position (the problem with liberals is they never get past the whining stage to truly do something about it).

The FT has the best breakdown of the Russia situation that I’ve read thus far. In this article, Charles Clover spends very little time talking about “wrong” or “right” but simply lays out the new geopolitical situation as it now exists. And the reality is a rejuvenated Russia, with its major energy resources and the world’s third largest currency reserves, has reasserted itself as a major strategic rival to the US while we stand by, red-faced and helpless to do much about it.

While the FT does not discuss it, I lay a huge portion of responsibility at the feet of the Bush administration. Clearly, the ideologically rigid foreign policy they’ve deployed has been an unmitigated disaster on all fronts. We haven’t even managed to secure the oil supplies in Iraq five years after mission accomplished as a real danger exists that Iraq will fall under Iranian influence once we leave.

Unfortunately, there is little we can do in the short term to address this situation. Doubly unfortunate is our pending Presidential election where many Americans are giving serious consideration to the almost self-admitted warmonger, McCain, who can’t remember that Czechoslovakia no longer exists and exudes more bluster and hype about his foreign policy credentials than an actual grasp of geopolitical realities.

Taxes, if raised, can be lowered (in fact, the inverse is much harder — taxes, once lowered, are very difficult to raise). But as Americans who have paid attention the last few years have found out, there are some things that can’t be undone and some opportunities that can’t be revisited once passed.

The Bush Administration will bequeath to the next administration a resurgent Russia, an equally rising & increasingly nationalistic China, a strengthened terrorist network now entrenched in a politically unstable country with nuclear weapons and we haven’t even touched on the economic issues, which are probably even more significant and more daunting.

God help us because we may need it.

UPDATED 08/15/2008: Lest you disregard my thoughts as mere left-wing defeatism, I direct you to an opinion piece penned by that fellow left-wing lilly, Patrick Buchanan. As I’ve said before, ideology has nothing to do with it. When things get bad enough, there is no left or right — only reality.