Does anybody else wonder about this? When the US invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities all over the world, denouncing our country's actions. The protesters claimed our actions were a naked power grab. One of the slogans that was chanted constantly was, "No blood for oil!"
My, how things have changed! Russia invades Georgia under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russians who live in a Georgian province. Then the Russian troops kept pressing on, and now they control a large portion of Georgia.
Why is Russia doing this? Well, they certainly want to assert their control over the states that used to be in the Soviet Union. Russian prime minister has said that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the worst mistake of the 20th century.
But this is also about oil. There are oil pipelines that go through Georgia that lead to Turkey and to the Black Sea. Russia would love to get control of those pipelines so they could control even more of the oil that goes to Europe. (Russia already supplies much of the natural gas that Europe uses.)
So it seems pretty clear that this is a war for oil. Where are the protesters? Where are the people comparing Putin to Hitler, like they did to Bush? Where is the outrage over Russia's actions? I haven't heard a peep out of the usual suspects.
I know a lot of Europeans are scared of Russia, and they don't want to say anything to upset Putin. But the hypocrisy is overwhelming. Will anyone hold Russia to account? I'm not holding my breath...
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One of my "theories" is that after Georgia, Russia is not going to move East towards Ukraine or former Soviet republics, but will move south towards the middle East. Azerbaijan may more likely be "next" instead of Ukraine and then there's Armenia and they will be in the hot spot of oil and middle Eastern politics/control.
I'd like to hope that the Russian army just goes back to its home country, and leaves its neighbors alone. But you might be right. They could go south, especially if Israel tries to destroy those Iranian nuclear power facilities...
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