The Georgia situation

from Joe Miller

The atrocities that have been committed in Georgia by all sides are truly horrendous. That said, and no doubt like many of you, I was skeptical of mainstream media (MSM) accounts that trumpeted the administration's line, placing most or all of the blame on Russia, and that echoed the administration's outrage and "humanitarian" concern about the assault on Georgian "democracy" (1, 2, 3). So I did a little reading.

Virtually none of the MSM accounts described the hypocrisy and total absence of moral authority in the administration's condemnation of the Russian actions (3, 4, 5), and virtually none provided any analysis of the reasons for which the administration and a compliant Congress has poured so much money and military training into Georgia (resulting, in part, in a significant Georgian troop presence in Iraq) (3, 8). Absent from virtually all the MSM accounts also was any mention of the strategic and financial importance that both the U.S. and Russia assign to their ability to control the flow of oil and natural gas from the Caspian Sea through the BTC pipeline in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the major contribution of this factor to the crisis (6, 3, 4).

Also absent from MSM accounts was any mention of how the Georgian crisis potentially benefits McCain's campaign, or of the "interesting" background of McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann. The following is Robert Scheer's description [in brackets] of Scheunemann (7; see also 8 and 4).

[..."consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government who ended his official lobbying connection only in March, months after he became Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser.

Previously, Scheunemann was best known as one of the neoconservatives who engineered the war in Iraq when he was a director of the Project for a New American Century. It was Scheunemann who, after working on the McCain 2000 presidential campaign, headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which championed the U.S. invasion of Iraq."]

As Michael Winship asserts in a description of an upcoming Bill Moyers' interview, "the fighting between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia is an unnerving reminder ... of how quickly the balance of global power can be tilted from unexpected directions with barely a warning." (9). This tilt will become even more pronounced as a result of Poland's recent decision to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base (10).

Best,

Joe

1. FAIR: Georgia/Russia Conflict Forced Into Cold War Frame 8/14/08
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3596

2. Dave Lindorff: This War Report Has Been Approved by Your Government 8/13/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/13/10961/

3. Stephen Zunes: US Role in Georgia Crisis 8/15/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/15/11000/

4. William D. Hartung - Georgia: Background to War 8/15/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/15/10998/

5. Juan Cole - Putin’s War Enablers: Bush and Cheney 8/14/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/14/10994/

6. Michael Klare - Russia and Georgia: All About Oil 8/13/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/04/10977/

7. Robert Scheer: Georgia War a Neocon Election Ploy? 8/13/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/13/10959/

8. Steve Weissman: Big Bad Russkies and Nasty Neocons 8/14/08
http://www.truthout.org/article/big-bad-russkies-and-nasty-neocons

9. Michael Winship: Andrew Bacevich, America and the World 8/15/08
http://www.truthout.org/article/andrew-bacevich-america-and-world

10. Jim Heintz - Russia: Poland Risks Attack Because of US Missiles 8/15/08
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/15/11003/

Joseph Miller
Associate Professor of Psychology
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556