<div> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Author?<br>
Relevance to language stuff?<br>
--Strikes me as more of the same tired "George Bush is a moron criminal genius who causes hurricanes" stuff.<br>
<br>
Color me Confused, please.<br>
<br>
Dan V.<br>
</font></div>
<div> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Taipei, Taiwan</font><br>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br>
To: lp <lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu><br>
Sent: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 8:50 am<br>
Subject: Russia and Georgia<br>
<br>
<div id="AOLMsgPart_0_6a9db256-df98-4a25-8c8e-5ebc55bdd63a" style="margin: 0px; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>Russia and Georgia<br>
August 17, 2008 4:26PM<br>
<br>
<br>
Ineptitude in response to reality is anything but singular in<br>
Washington these past years, especially when reality has shown the<br>
unpleasant side of its face. Would that dismal failure were a one off<br>
kind of thing, but in government one stupid move always begets<br>
another, the other yet another, and pretty soon you wind up back where<br>
some of us began, facing off with a country that really does have what<br>
Bush nomenclature calls weapons of mass destruction.<br>
<br>
Even so, Washington's belated response to the events of the last 10<br>
days in Georgia struck me as particularly absurd, even for Washington.<br>
The decision to send humanitarian aid to Georgia in military transport<br>
accomplishes almost nothing good and a lot bad. To the Georgians it<br>
will come as an impotent gesture arriving too late with the wrong<br>
stuff. To Russians it will be perceived as more of the same American<br>
military posturing on its borders which has been going on for 10<br>
years, provoking them finally into doing what they are doing, now with<br>
vengeance. Nor will the Russians fail to note the hypocrisy of what<br>
has become the characteristic American touch, gunboat foreign aid. The<br>
soldier delivering the medicine never goes home. Considering that we<br>
have been bollixing up the world in so many ways these past 15 years,<br>
I for one would like to think that a response something along these<br>
lines would have been considered.<br>
<br>
Look, this is a part of the world that not may of us beltway folk know<br>
too much about, and it's complicated. There are about 5 people in this<br>
city that speak the Georgian language and not many more who speak<br>
Russian. The people who speak Russian don't count because they learned<br>
to speak the language in the Defense Language Institute where the<br>
vocabulary was mostly army, regiment, battalion, bomb, and despite<br>
appearances, we don't think that this is the language which is likely<br>
to defuse this situation which is troubling, if far from threatening<br>
to our national security.<br>
<br>
How did it all go down? The President of Georgia did a stint here in<br>
our ivy league which not surprisingly left him delusional. Take a look<br>
around down here DC side if you have any trouble understanding me on<br>
this score. Putin. Well, Putin is Putin. Putin is going to do what he<br>
thinks is in the best interests of Russia, we know that now. We tried<br>
to get him to be an American but for some odd reason he didn't want<br>
any part of that. We even offered to let Russia be like America, you<br>
know, be like us or else, but he we couldn't budge the buggers,<br>
especially after they started to reap the rewards from taking back<br>
their oil companies from the Russian wannabe Rockefellers who hadn't<br>
the good sense to give back 10% of what they were stealing.<br>
<br>
So our policy on this latest crisis may surprise some of you people<br>
out there in the malls of America, still doing your best to keep on<br>
shopping just as I wanted you to do after the tragic events of 9/11. I<br>
know it has been tough doing what you are doing without any money, and<br>
your ingenuity in this regard frankly has been amazing. I know that<br>
you would prefer that I unleash our Generals and get America moving<br>
again. But the fact of the matter is we are stuck. We are stuck in<br>
Iraq. We are stuck in Afghanistan. We are stuck period, just like you<br>
are stuck in the mall without any money. We have sucked up all the<br>
credit and the well is dry. It's probably a good thing too, because<br>
thermo-nuclear wars can get ugly, very ugly.<br>
<br>
Our new policy is that we are going to stay home, shut up, and let the<br>
Georgians and the Russians work this one out between themselves. Too<br>
much to hope for? In Megalomaniaville, you bet it is.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
**************************************<br>
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>
its members<br>
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>
or sponsor of<br>
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>
disagree with a<br>
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>
*******************************************<br>
<br>
</tt></pre>
</div>
<!-- end of AOLMsgPart_0_6a9db256-df98-4a25-8c8e-5ebc55bdd63a -->
<div id='u8CACF681D83AD56-114C-8A2A' class='aol_ad_footer'><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">It's time to go back to school! Get the latest trends and gadgets that make the grade on <A title="http://shopping.aol.com/back-to-school?ncid=aolins00050000000007" href="http://shopping.aol.com/back-to-school?ncid=aolins00050000000007" target="_blank">AOL Shopping</A>.</FONT> </div>