John McCain rides South Ossetia to a lead in the polls

As I mentioned in a previous post, Georgia first attacked South Ossetia ten years ago after South Ossetians expressed a stronger desire to be part of the Russian Federation than part of Georgia. Since then South Ossetia has been recognised as virtually independant, with Georgian and Russian peacekeepers. When Georgia attacked South Ossetia a few days ago, a number of these Russian peacekeepers were killed in the attack. The reaction of the Russians to Georgia's war in South Ossetia seems understandable. But why are the US and UK papers discussing the re-opening of the cold war, rather than recognising how the situation was created, and the justified grievance on the Russian side?

Today John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate for American President said these words about his Democratic opponent Barack Obama: "Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president. What’s less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief. And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president — as we were all reminded ten days ago by events in the nation of Georgia."

So McCain gets to say could once again that he would make a better commander in chief than Obama, only this time in between footage of Russian tanks rolling across American screens. The effect has been predictable. After weeks of Obama leading McCain by several points in the race, the two candidates within the past few days have become tied in the opinion polls. The Republican Presidential administration of George Bush must given the Georgians the green light to move against the Russians as they would not have acted without first getting US suppost.

In his first statement after the invasion, McCain took a uniquely agressive stance towards Russia. Obama took a more cautious view. Even George Bush, a man not known for his caution, called on both sides to negotiate. Meanwhile a McCain adviser suggested that Obama’s initial statement constituted appeasement.

John McCain may have encouraged the Georgians to invade South Ossetia through his chief foreign policy advisor, who was also a strategic adviser for the Georgia government.

The first South Ossetian war and Western reporting

In 1991 Georgia attacked South Ossetia for choosing to be part of the Russian federation rather than part of Georgia. That war led to South Ossetia becoming a virtually independent state in 1992, protected by Russian and Georgian peacekeepers.

Georgia's president reignited this war a few days ago when he launched another attack. The new attack by Georgia (population 4.6 million) on South Ossetia (population 70,000) killed a number of Russian peacekeepers and countless South Ossetians. The US and the UK with their newfound respect for national sovereignty chose to take plucky little Georgia's side.

It's pretty poor newspaper reporting that none of this is mentioned in the miles of newsprint dedicated to South Ossetia in the past few days, but instead we have a lot of rubbish about the Russians launching a new cold war. I think I know why the Russians are so pissed off!

We should all be deeply ashamed at the behaviour of our governments. The American government are republicans in the middle of a presidential election, and so they are behaving a little crazy, but what's our own government's excuse here in the UK?

John Simpson was in Georgia during the first war and covers his Georgian experiences in one of his fantastic books which I think was "Strange Places Questionable People". I read it a few years ago. He gives a summary of the first South Ossetian war here.