Russia's Bullying

Russia's actions in the last week have shown once again that despite changing its ideological cloak in the 1990ies, Russia still remains a regional bully. Incapable of projecting its power outside of its traditional "sphere of influence," Putin's Russia is a country frantically trying to prove to the rest of the world that it still matters. If in the process of proving this, it murders thousands of civilians, destroys the infrastructure of an entire country, and demolishes its territorial sovereignty, so much the better (in the eyes of the over the top, macho, judo expert Putin).

Things seem to be getting worse with Poland reaching the deal with the US on the missile defense shield. I have always been opposed to this stupid program which seems to only further alienate Russia and the rest of the world from the US, but Russia's actions in Georgia and its response to the Polish-US agreement have made me rethink my initial opposition. If Russia was so bold as to invade Georgia (going well beyond the separatist province of South Ossetia), who is to guarantee Poland that it would not be next.

I think this is a remote possibility as Poland is a member of NATO and the EU, but given the deeply rooted anti-Russian animosity within Poland (and most Eastern Europe), Polish leaders were under an immense political pressure to conclude this agreement.

The events in Georgia can also be seen as a delayed reaction of Russia to the independence of Kosovo as they seem to be using South Ossetia to prove their point that Kosovo set the precedent in international relations. At the same time, the US is completely powerless (militarily, but more importantly, politically) to do anything about the situation but complain. Thus, I see the dire situation as another evidence of the diminished US' credibility after 8 years of the Bush administration. Thanks, W.