Proxy War

In the absence of the Cold War, world players still need to stand tall. The military posturing of both Russia and the United States is two bullies on either side of a playground squaring off, neither having the audacity to take that direct step towards the other. It’s a chess match using only pons, because moving a bishop or knight is geopolitically embarrassing. Russia invades Georgia. United States condemns. Poland signs missile defense agreement with United States. Russia condemns. Ukraine says it will repeal lease of port space for Russia navy in Sevastopol. Russia ignores.

In the end, governments can condemn, but it’s clear that the United States has lost any post-Cold War influence that it had on Russian diplomacy. Just as China announced its coming of age party with the Olympic opening ceremonies, Russia has also demanded world attention, albeit in a different capacity. Instead of parading athletes and peaceful pageantry, it has paraded tanks...uninvited, across Georgian sovereignty. Since Georgia is not NATO, the automatic military support from allies is not there and America has its hands tied, not only diplomatically, but also militarily.

With so much men and material invested in Afghanistan and Iraq to the southeast, the United States is in no position, literally, to contend with Russia’s exploitation even if we did in principle intend to assist in defending Georgia. However, logistics are not the cause of our handcuffed predicament in our macho posturing match with Russia. Moreover, even though our economy is suffering at the moment, it is also not a reasonable excuse either. Go so far as to spew nationalist mantra and it hits us back smack in our face. With troops spread over the globe, it would take a fool to criticize another world player for solidifying its borders. We can criticize and condemn Russia’s actions, but in that light, how does our invasion of Iraq, a country thousands of miles away from us, contrast?