Uncle Jay, as many of you know, travels the world going from major sporting event to major sporting event, and rigging them to win insignificant amounts of money. Last year alone, he confided to Borepatch that he raked in over … Continue reading →
So, over at Contentions, J.E. Dyer puts up a bunch of links showing Russian attempts to bully Japan over the Kuril Islands, concluding: Its significance cannot be overemphasized. In approaching this confrontation, Russia is effectively treating Japan — a G-8 … Continue reading →
Georgia contributed to the problem, but even Europeans dependent on Russian natural gas have to admit ’twas the Bear. EVEN BEFORE the shooting ended, Russia’s invasion of Georgia last year prompted an international debate about who bore responsibility for the … Continue reading →
Boris Nemtsov, who is of course an opponent of V.V. Putin, claims: One of the biggest myths perpetrated by Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machine is that during his 10-year rule over Russia, the former president and current prime minister succeeded in … Continue reading →
Felicitări! But, of course, were one an alarmist, one might think that, suitably twisted into an allegation of election fraud or the like, this otherwise happy result could serve as a pretext for a nasty, imperialist neighbor to come to … Continue reading →
…in return for his grin-and-grip and missile deal (where we accepted reductions in missiles they were going to retire anyway as in their favor). Biden to Georgia: Lie back and think of England. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like … Continue reading →
With President Barack Obama’s trip to Moscow on Monday, you might expect Russia to avoid stirring up any trouble. Yet the Russian media are now abuzz with speculation about a new war in Georgia, and some Western analysts are voicing … Continue reading →
Maybe, but Mike Goldfarb says, “Why the hell can’t he get it right the first time? Again?!” Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →“One Arab ambassador told me recently that the Iranians are reminding Arab leaders that America didn’t help Fuad Siniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, or Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, when they got into trouble—that in fact Washington left … Continue reading →
Great magazine this week. For your delectation: Ethan Gutmann’s cover story on the Chinese organ-harvesting complex will give you nightmares. No one lacerates the French like the French. Great piece on Saakashvili’s visit to Paris. Former Colleague of a Gormogon … Continue reading →
Gordon Chang relates that RAND says the Chinese are very close to absolute air superiority in a potential Taiwan invasion. This is very bad news on a number of fronts. First, peace in East Asia has generally been stable due … Continue reading →
Alas, SPECTRE’s new boss, Vova Putin is having some trouble selling his “liberator of South Ossetia” story. Even to fellow goons and his stooges. Consider the rogue’s gallery [sic*] that refused to go along: Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela, the Castros’ Cuba, … Continue reading →
Once again, aggression recedes before the fearsome arsenal of negotiation the EU deploys. And the world is safer for it! Or, wait, did I get that backwards? Check out their effort to “counter” Russia—we’ll have to outbid them to give … Continue reading →
SWJ has an excellent post today tying together the long WaPo piece on Russia and the car-bombing in South Ossetia. The Volgi has been thinking about the car-bombing for a while, and although he hopes it doesn’t come to such … Continue reading →
So Bad Vlad is raising the temperature on their “Ukraine sold arms to Georgia” claim. Now the claim seems to be either that they were selling arms into a war zone or that they sold arms “in the run-up” to … Continue reading →
The Gormogons would like to extend a honorary membership to former Swedish PM and MFA Carl Bildt (r.), for “speaking truth to power” as the hippies say, and potentially getting declared persona non grata by a Russian government clearly high … Continue reading →
Via Kathryn Lopez. Casus belli, Melvin Belli, what’s the difference? Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →So, what’s up with the медведь today? Breaking the Sarkozy agreement and keeping the Europeans out of South Ossetia, schmoozing the Germans, modernizing their nuclear forces (unlike us), spying on the Czechs, monkeying with their democratic window-dressing, and venerating Stalin. … Continue reading →
So what’s going on in Georgia? Hmm. The poor, oppressed South Ossetians whom the Russians had to save from Great Georgian Imperialism are ethnically cleansing South Ossetia. I’m sure they don’t have Russian permission to do this. Their army must … Continue reading →
Strong statement by Condi contra Russian demands: “We will not permit Russia to veto the future of NATO, neither the countries offered membership nor their decision to accept it…We and our European allies will give our help to Georgia…. The … Continue reading →
Doubtless all the Gormogons’ readers saw through Russia’s silly “Kosovo” pretext for invading Georgia. If, however, you were worried about the details of the claim, Noel Malcolm (who literally wrote the [ok, a] book on Kosovo) goes through the historical … Continue reading →
Gordon Chang reports the Russian foreign-policy establishment is saying with one voice, “Look, we’re not playing ball. Punish us for Georgia, and we’ll upset your precious little multilateral applecart.” This is about as blunt as diplomats get. So, what now, … Continue reading →
…those crafty Georgians must have forced forced the simple, good-hearted Russian soldiers to destroy their country’s cultural patrimony. They’re tricky bastards, those Georgians. This reminds the Volgi of the kind of crimes against history and culture that the Serbs perpetrated … Continue reading →
Nice gesture by Medvedev; let’s hope he does more. Too bad Stalin’s the “strong Russia” model Putin is going for. The Russia Lobby continues to press Washington. Matlock’s arguments about the effects of admitting Georgia and Ukraine aren’t trivial, but … Continue reading →
Well, nationalism and attacking an unbeloved ethnic group is apparently popular in Russia, boding ill for any sort of domestic check on revanchist nationalism and, indeed, likely stoking public anger at the first sign of push-back by the West. Not … Continue reading →
Condi: Georgian invasion leaves Russia isolated. Well, except for Europe. (I mean, a three-month delay is enough for invading a tiny neighbor, right?) Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Has Russia just set itself up to lose territory by justifying their invasion of Georgia in terms of South Ossetian self-determination? Because now, Gordon Chang reports, the South Ossetians are mumbling about reunifying with North Ossetia. Which is part of … Continue reading →
Thus writes Ian Buruma (of Occidentalism fame) in the Los Angeles Times. His article is very much worth reading, but your Volgi would take exception to one assertion: The prospect of joining the European Union has strengthened the democracies of … Continue reading →
…not going our way? Maybe when the Russians are in Sevastopol, Odessa, Poti, Batumi, and Sukhumi… Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Which isn’t a nice phrase. Google at your own risk. More seriously, this incident, in which Russian forces seem to have ripped off more U.S. military equipment than the previously-reported Humvees. For all the idiotic commentary following the Russian characterization … Continue reading →
Ukraine seriously considering rebuilding a nuclear arsenal? Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Here. As I think I’ve argued somewhere (oh yeah, here, though sketchily), the West has a fair number of cards to play against a revanchist, expansion-minded Russia. NATO membership is one. If it’s as transparently a bluff as Fukuyama says, … Continue reading →
The Post gets it. And Russia taunts NATO. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Article 1The Purposes of the United Nations are: To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of … Continue reading →
These days. My own sense is that, however vivid Turkish anti-Americanism is at the moment, serious Turks understand that it’s a whim they can indulge only in the absence of external threats. And for all Turkey’s dependence on Russian natural … Continue reading →
Once again, Russia is rattling sabers at Moldova. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Because I did. Transdnistria is the new South Ossetia. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →…the Russians say, “Bah, we are not intimidated by your puny warships. Behold our making-stuff-blow-up skills!“ Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Some reasonable speculations from Robert Freedman at MESH on the Middle Eastern repercussions of Russia’s invading Georgia. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Your Œcumenical Volgi has been trying to go easy on the foreign policy, as he knows that Russia’s invasion of Georgia has driven him mad and he’s gone a bit berserk in hijacking this fun little blog. However, if you … Continue reading →
Must-read from the great Sebag. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →…but this is lapidary. Here’s a taste, but read it all. We Europeans seem to have forgotten our history. There were other times when we have stood by while a militaristic European power insisted that it had the right to … Continue reading →
…that Russia’s invasion of Georgia was a punitive expedition for their applying to NATO rather than a humanitarian gesture on behalf of their beloved South Ossetians, here’s a good bit of analysis from Pavel Felgenhauer (via David Frum @ NRO). … Continue reading →
‘Puter thinks so. Russia’s lease on the Ukrainian port of Sebastopol on the Black Sea is up in 2017. Ukraine and Russia are about as friendly as fire and gasoline. ‘Puter’s betting Ukraine finds a way to not renew the … Continue reading →
Not to obsess on the trumped-up nature of Russia’s invasion of Georgia, but this picture on Drudge caught my eye (I can’t figure out whom to credit—it’s hosted on Yahoo’s news servers, but I can’t find it in their index). … Continue reading →
…by a professor of Russian and Georgian of a new history of the Caucasus. Via aldaily.com. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →What has the Volgi been telling you? Does it sound better à la française? The current crisis in the Caucasus does not mark the return of the Cold War, nor is it likely to mark the start of open warfare … Continue reading →
Right? Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Putin: “Beginning immediately, my attorney will be explaining my Georgia policy, Frau Merkel.” (Title: Flawless Friendship—literally “friendship as clear as a loupe”) (That’s Gerhard Schröder, Putin’s Gazprom catamite, holding the phone.) Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass … Continue reading →
Interesting points from Fred Kagan via John McCormack at the Weekly Standard. Sounds like a fairly clear victory for Russia at this point. Victor Davis Hanson on the West’s instinct to turn on itself first. A Cato Institute writer blaming … Continue reading →
More good first-person reportage from le BHL. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →‘Puter stands with the Czech and Slovak peoples as they remember the fortieth anniversary of the brutal Soviet invasion of then Czechoslovakia. The Soviets believed emerging freedoms granted by First Secretary Dubček in what was called Prague Spring threatened the … Continue reading →
Great first-person reportage from Georgia by the estimable Michael Totten in City Journal. “They are burning the houses. From most of the houses they are taking everything. They are stealing everything, even such things as toothbrushes and toilets. They are … Continue reading →
…NATO that she’s suspending cooperation? Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Translation of this: “we’re fucking useless”. Not that the U.S. has been better; argubly, we’ve been even worse. Chimpy McHilterburton doesn’t exactly look like a world-despoiling warmongering tyrant now, does he, kids? I mean, there’s an oil pipeline there. Aren’t … Continue reading →
Because with the Russians holding Gori and now taking Poti, it looks like they’re planning on staying a bit. Also, notice that they stole a bunch of American equipment, as a ёб твою мать собакым хуй. Laugh it up, Vovochka. … Continue reading →
Like Peter Pham at NRO’s Tank, the Œcumenical Volgi has long had an eye on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, stemming from his long interest in Central Asian affairs (which interest led to one of the most painful incidents in his … Continue reading →
Worth reading. Covers Georgia, the Near Abroad, and the Middle East. The main aim will be to weaken America’s position in the Middle East. In this respect, there are differences of opinion in the Kremlin. Some ex-generals have come on … Continue reading →
Worth reading beyond the fairly rhetorical question in the headline. RFE/RL always does a good job. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →John Bolton is on fire in the Telegraph. Not least because he uses some of the historical allusions the Volgi has pulled out. The West, collectively, failed in this crisis. And he takes the Bushies to the woodshed. Great stuff. … Continue reading →
‘Puter is uncertain whether this post’s title describes Georgia’s territorial integrity or the West’s absolutely shameful response to Russia’s naked aggression toward a newly-minted democracy. However, from the AP photo at right, courtesy of FoxNews, at least one Georgian has … Continue reading →
…Fred Thompson‘s never run for president. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →If the Georgians want to fight, Stuart Koehl has some ideas on how we can help. He doesn’t mention it, but we should be preemptively providing this kind of military assistance to other democratic countries in Russia’s sights, particularly Ukraine. … Continue reading →
Excellent piece in Small Wars Journal: …The return of strongman rule to Russia, and particularly one who regards the demise of the Soviet Union as a historic catastrophe, is now a fact of international life to which we will all … Continue reading →
Here’s a good piece on their apparently incompetent strategists and ignoble recent history in South Ossetia pre-Rose Revolution. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Wow. Ukraine looks like they’ve realized that it’s on, and they’re trying to effectively lock up the Russian Black Sea Fleet. (Via Michael Ledeen @ NRO.) Good for them. As Krauthammer argues infra: we have cards; we need to play … Continue reading →
Charles Krauthammer has some excellent suggestions. And he grasps what this is all about: The real objective is the Finlandization of Georgia through the removal of President Mikheil Saakashvili and his replacement by a Russian puppet. If you don’t read … Continue reading →
According to Saakashvili at any rate: For too long, we all underestimated the ruthlessness of the regime in Moscow. Yesterday brought further evidence of its duplicity: Within 24 hours of Russia agreeing to a cease-fire, its forces were rampaging through … Continue reading →
…Mr. Johnson, who’s evidently on the same page as the Œcumenical Volgi. “The Russian invasion of Georgia is a damning indictment of Western, and especially European, diplomacy….If the Russian bluff is ever going to be called, it had much better … Continue reading →
‘Puter humbly attempts to expand on a small point in OEV’s outstanding commentary on the Crisis in the Caucasus. The United States continually analyzes what wars are acceptable and which are not, which interventions are acceptable and which are too … Continue reading →
On NRO’s Corner, John Derbyshire argues: Either you believe the U.S.A. ought to commit — in writing — that we shall go to war on behalf of Georgia (Estonia, the Ukraine, etc.), or you believe we ought not. Precisely backwards. … Continue reading →
Read ’em in full. Melik Kaylan: Having overestimated the power of the Soviet Union in its last years, we have consistently underestimated the ambitions of Russia since. Already, a great deal has been said about the implications of Russia’s invasion … Continue reading →
Well, this would be nice, if it’s true and it sticks. It’s a welcome distance short of the deposition of the Georgian government I was expecting. If this holds, it’s because Russia’s made her point; now, the ball is in … Continue reading →
…in today’s Wall Street Journal. Worth reading throughout. However, if you don’t have the time, just read this: Reversing this course will not be easy, but it is absolutely necessary. At stake are international law, energy security, NATO’s future, and … Continue reading →
Instead of a series of incoherent responses to Russian actions, we should get out in front of this problem by defining it on our terms: a sovereign Georgia, a South Ossetia whose future is decided by negotiation and not force, … Continue reading →
Over at NRO’s Corner, Punditissimo Jonah Goldberg wonders why the heck Obama’s response is to refer the Ossetian War to the UN Security Council. I’d have thought the answer was obvious: the left’s innate aversion to any sort of positive … Continue reading →
Senator McCain whipped out his foreign policy and security bona fides again today in addressing Russia’s “peacekeeping” efforts in Georgia, warning the Russians of “severe, long-term negative consequences” involving a few tricks Senator McCain picked up during his time visiting … Continue reading →
Where’s your “no blood for oil” now? China’s got the frickin’ PLA in Sudan to protect its oil deals with the genocidal government, and you decide the best way to deal with the crisis is to go to the UN. … Continue reading →
The Œcumenical Volgi has been on the road and, due to a dodgy wifi connection, unable to blog at any length. Ensconced in an airport with all the modern conveniences, he can finally address the horrific events in South Ossetia … Continue reading →
