I received a lot of flack for my position on the Georgia / Russia conflict and this from my friends in Russia who "thought I was their friend". The fact is that I am a friend of Russia and Russians and see this situation in Georgia as yet one more instance in which the Russian government is screwing the citizens of a wonderful people.

For all of my criticism of the Russian actions in Georgia, this is not related to my equal criticisms of the United States and Europe in relation to its actions toward Russia. The fact is that Russia has a lot to complain about and the West is not taking that country seriously. That said, Russia needs to grow up. Peter the Great is long dead and Stalin was not a Russian. He was a Georgian.

America gets itself screwed up, sometimes. This can be seen with mistakes such as the Iraq war (Right war, wrong reasons, wrong president). That said, we have a government that has to answer to a lot of critics that it cannot attack merely by assassinating journalists. When our government makes a mistake, it has to answer to voters, journalists, other powers within the government such as our congress (two parts) and our judiciary. If Russians look to the USA, today, it will see a correction: Bush isn't working, McCain (same party as Bush) is trying to distance himself. Obama is representing Democrats saying that it is time for something new.

There is a pendulum in America. Sometimes the Republicans have the answer, sometimes the Democrats. If things go too far one way, the power of the opposition grows to HELP the country swing the other way. Kill the opposition and the pendulum can do nothing other than to swing to far in the wrong direction.

It is news in our country that the US was denying Afghan deaths in an air strike. America is being forced to investigate. America will eventually acknowledge its error and will be forced to change its ways so that civilian deaths are 'more minimal' than we already make it when we go to war. The fact that we use 'smart bombs' at all shows that America is not willing to inflict the damage we have the capacity to inflict.

Why? Are we so 'weak' that we have to be careful about the civilian casualties? No. We don't. There are not enough voices in this country that care about whether there are 2 or 2,000 Afghan deaths. In a day, the news is old and nobody cares.

No. Americans push the government to care because we demand nothing less than that the government (eventually and with great effort) administers to our beliefs as people: We refuse to support a government that merely kills. We refuse to support a government that uses expediency at the cost of our beliefs. We believe that Russia and Georgian and Afghan people are just like Americans in that everybody just wants to be let alone, in peace, to raise children, to be proud, to get jobs, to earn a living that they cay be proud of. Merely that. To kill Afghan civilians, this is a big problem for the USA, not because of World Opinion, but because our own government is answerable to us. We, the people (who are not always very bright) push our government and we have devised the system in which our government, eventually (not alsways as fast as we want) has to answer to us.

Is that weakness, or is that the result of a government system in which a government cannot act (too far) without the consent of its people?

The Hope and Failure of Putin

Putin represented the hope of the West that Russia would one day be part of the West. Peter the Great and Catherine the Great wanted it. Most of Russia wanted it since that time. The West actually wants Russia to be part of the West. That said, Russia keeps acting as if its something else other than the West... better? With an 'historical attachment to land that does not belong to it?"

The West is post colonial. The days of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonies is over. Spain is Spain, Britain is Britain, France is France. Russia is Russia. The United States, good or bad, is the United States. We have 50 States and several protectorates such as Puerto Rico, Guam and other independent states that, vote after vote, stay with the USA because they want to. Want to. Frankly, the US would be happy to jettison the protectorates. We don't WANT 'spheres of influence" and we don't want countries that are forced to support us. We really don't give a shit if Puerto Rico were to pledge fealty to Cuba. We'd cut off communications, but also a lot of our problems would also be solved if we didn't have a 'protectorate.'

In that sense, we don't get it that Russia claims Ukraine, the Balkans, the CIS Nations, etc. They are NOT Russia. Russia is Russia. We don't want Georgia to 'join NATO as against Russia' but rather we are wishing that Russia be a part of the West... just as Russians wish to be considered 'Europe' and not 'Asia.'

Russia is different. Russia sees itself as being 'attacked' because it sees the West as being antithetical to .... some goal, we don't know what. Seriously. We don't know what Russia's 'problem' is. Everybody else gets along with only minor squabbles, but Russia.... Russia's got a problem with its own identity as a European Nation. "Oh, Europe isn't accepting us. We're going to pout."

Well, how many Russian's know that the schoolboy or schoolgirl that 'doesn't get it' with regard to 'fitting in' socially is usually the person that is getting picked on at the playground? How many Russians have figured it out that when they are the 'new kid' on the block that they're starting out on the bottom of the totem pole? It doesn't matter if you out-weigh and can punch out the 'European Kids.' What matters is whether you're punching out the kid who is going to get up off the ground and say, "You know what? It doesn't matter if you punch me. I still belong and you don't. I gave you a chance to belong and work you way up to the Alpha position and, frankly, you're an idiot for being such a baby."

Let's talk about The West and Putin.

After Gorbachev and Yeltsin, Putin was supposed to be the great savior of Russia... the modern Peter The Great. He 'saw' the real democratic principles of government independent of Russian tradition. Democracy was NOT a Kleptocracy based on a lack of 'law', but rather a system that depended on a 'Rule of Law' that Putin seemed to represent.

When it was convenient.

The difference between Russia and the United States is that the Rule of Law tends to bring down our governments. It is not an expediency, but a belief. Law is not merely the creation of laws, but a law based on certain beliefs.

Does America believe in its laws and beliefs? Not entirely. However much we had the statue of liberty, we still have not accepted all of our own beliefs. We've had reason not to. Do we believe in a freedom of Speech? Yes. Even though it is easier to deny people such a freedom, we still believe in it. Even though it would be easier of our government if there was no opposition or criticism, there would be the hundreds of thousands and millions of us tht would die to protect a single journalist's right to say something that WE MIGHT NOT AGREE WITH!

Do we believe that government can become corrupt? Yes. We vote out these governments. McCain is not promoting the status quo of his party. He is leading a rebellion against it hoping to show the Americans that The Republicans are different than Bush. The fact is that I doubt he will win. Bush fucked up as a President, but I can also say that Putin messed up even more.

So, Putin? Get rid of him. He served his time as did our own presidents. He pushed the country in one direction as far as it can go. Now it is time for the pendulum to shift. When it gets too far in the new direction, then it is time for the pro-Putin supporters to make that same pendulum shift to the new course. Not before.

Conservative, nationalism has no place, now. Not in our country and not in yours. It's time for you, my dear Russians, to grow up. Be a part of Europe or even be something different and still beneficial to the world. Stop being the schoolyard bully.... and don't be the victim, either. Find the thing you believe in and demand it. Let government govern, but also be the people that does not let government go too far in any one direction.

We promise to get rid of Bush if you will only promise to get rid of Putin. Laud him, honor him, respect him, for I know that he has done more to lead your country to greatness than any other leader since before Lenin. But, now it is time to take the leap and retire Putin. His time is over. His chapter in your country closed. Tolstoy would never have allowed such a character survive to the chapter you are reading, now.

If you have the courage to push the old leader out and accept the new leader in (good, or bad), you will have done that final growing. You will then become a democracy. Is that good? No. It is only "Less bad than all the other forms of government." Nothing more and nothing less. But, if you have courage and conviction and vision of what is 'right' ... you will do well.

Remember. Your soldiers are you. Your politicians are sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters of YOU. Your leaders are people who are entrusted with the task of making your country proud and strong. Your leaders are people who step in at small amounts of time to solve small tasks. They are not kings. The are not gods. They are people. They are you and me. The idea of a tsar is not something you believe in because you, dear Russian, are much wiser and more educated than the peasant that used to feed Russia. You know... you KNOW that people are the same everywhere.

So, the world begs of you: You, the people! Choose to become PART of the world and neither king nor bully nor victim of it. Stop being cowards to your own government. Stop protecting your individual selves and start standing up to what may kill you, but what may also provide for your dear children. Stalin was all about 'sacrifice for the common good' but... maybe it is time to sacrifice for the common good as against sacrificing for the leader.

Animal farm.

Stop feeding the pigs.

Tags: america, bravery, bush, cowardice, georgia, history, russia, usa