John O'Sullivan, this is clap-trap, cheap propaganda really, full of unanalyzed assertions slightly disguised with lame banter.
Russia is doing what any other power would do in parallel circumstances, and you must know that.
That being the case, you are being dishonest. That not being the case, you know too little to be writing columns.
Georgia's relationship with America and NATO is precisely parallel to Mexico's trying to join the Warsaw Pact in 1979. Even you must know that Mexico City would have been overrun by America tanks within a week.
Russia has not overrun Georgia, it has limited its actions to a (former) area of the country where it has many citizens and interests, an area that already has sought its independence from the foolish governments we've seen in Georgia.
Your column contributes nothing to understanding and promotes only bad relations with Russia.
I think it fair to call that dumb.
But then the organization you represent [Radio Free Europe] has a long history of being a CIA-subsidized propaganda mill, less heavy-handed and clumsy than the old Soviet propaganda mill, but a propaganda mill nevertheless.
And when it comes to abusive power in today's world, America has no match, occupying two nations, threatening a third, and beginning to threaten a fourth (Pakistan). There's nothing to be light and banter about when you've caused the deaths of a million people.
