Bush Warns Putin

It now appears very likely that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looked President Bush right in the eye at the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and lied to him about his intentions in Georgia. Bush is not happy:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday demanded that Russia end a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation to end the crisis in the former Soviet republic.

Almost immediately after his return from the Olympics in China, Bush warned Russia in his strongest comments since the fighting erupted over Georgia's separatist South Ossetia region last week to "reverse the course it appears to be on" and abandon any attempt it may have to topple Georgia's pro-western government.

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century," the president said in a televised statement from the White House, calling on Moscow to sign on to the outlines of a cease-fire as the Georgian government has done.

"The Russian government must reverse the course it appears to be on and accept this peace agreement as a first step toward solving this conflict," Bush said, adding that he is deeply concerned that Russia, which Georgian officials say has effectively split their country in two, might bomb the civilian airport in the capital of Tbilisi.

He said Russia's escalation of the conflict had "raised serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region" and had "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world." "These actions jeopardize Russia's relations with the United States and Europe," Bush said. "It's time for Russia to be true to its word to act to end this crisis."

It has become dramatically clear in the past day that Russia's actions in Georgia were not a spur-of-the-moment response to some perceived humanitarian crisis in South Ossetia, but a carefully planned and staged invasion designed to destroy the military capacity of the Georgian state. Once Russia has completed the invasion you can expect them to depose the elected leadership and replace them with puppet leaders loyal to Putin. Georgia will once again become a de facto Soviet Republic.

And the worst part of it is that nobody in the world can do anything about it. We're not going to war to save Georgia and neither is anybody else. At best there will be sort of sanctions, such as tossing Russia out of the G-8 and perhaps some other economic sanctions, but it won't change anything. What it will do is aggravate Putin and make him more likely to try this again with the Ukraine or other former Soviet republics.

Right now Putin holds all the cards.