Carthage then Georgia now.

Weblog
21th August 2008
Presumably China was not amused that the resurgent wannabee Russian Bear chose the opening of the Olympics in Beijing as the cover for an assault on the southern oil pipelines from Baku, through Turkey via Georgia.

The best assaults are always those that catch the world by surprise and the proto- soviet assault on the free republic of Georgia is a classic of the species. George “the schmuck” Bush was found with a mouthful of overcooked sushi while out mounting Vladimir Putin… Put in he is rumoured to have said. The photo-op of Bush fawning over Putin in Beijing must represent an all time low in the waning fortunes of the USA.

As a strategic move the clamp on Georgia is brilliant . The oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey is a key supply route for Euroland’s growing energy needs. We have already seen what happens with the northern supply line from Russian through Ukraine when Gazprom flexed its muscles a year or so ago. Ukraine stopped. Europe fulminated against the move then, and now with the move to [potentially] cut off oil from Buku almost a fait accompli Europe is on an uneasy precipice… as is the free world.

Will this little invasion prove to be the 21st century’s equivalent of Munich 1938 … Appeasement today brings conflict tomorrow? There is certainly an amusing comparison between the way the Russians have taken out Georgia and the way the Vandals wiped out the Romans back in 439AD by snatching Carthage from the empire while the citizens were at the Games and then holding their grain supplies to ransom.

As of right now the only real beneficiary of the Georgian affair seems to be the Republican candidate for office in the USA… for the rest it is the unaccustomed sight of light skinned refugees on their way to the latest ‘trailer park’ refugee camp.

So much for Darfur