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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / How Not To Project An Appearance of Strength

How Not To Project An Appearance of Strength

by John Cole|  August 15, 200810:08 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

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These guys are such clowns:

Condemning as unacceptable what he called Russia’s “bullying and intimidation,” President Bush said Friday that Russia must withdraw its troops from all of Georgian territory and said the United States would stand with Georgia in the conflict.

“Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected,” he said.

Tensions have risen sharply in the past 24 hours, as the Russian president and foreign minister made it clear they would support separatist efforts by two breakaway Georgian territories and as the specter of a resurgent Russia helped persuade Poland to agree to a long-stalled deal on an American missile defense system.

Stop it, or I will say stop it again and have the Democrats draft one of their patented strongly worded letters before complaining to the teacher about the bullying going on during recess. Putin has to be laughing his ass off at our incompetence and impotence.

If you really think Georgia is a vital national interest, and this is the best you can come up with, wouldn’t we be better served if we just said nothing at all rather than making idle and useless statements that only highligt how weak and inconsequential we are? Putin knows we are not going to go to war with him. We know that is off the table. So we really don’t have any leverage whatsoever if all we are willing to say is nonsense like this. So just shut up. We screwed up. Saakashvili screwed up. The Russians took advantage of it. Move on.

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Previous Post: « High Comedy at Saddleback Church
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Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    wasabi gasp

    August 15, 2008 at 10:53 am

    It seems whenever you add a new post, your blog shits the bed. As best as I can tell, this doesn’t happen when Tim F. or the Canadian guy post.

  2. 2.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 15, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Saakashvilli babbling endlessly on the teevee sure ain’t making his case. I keep hoping the Russians will invade his press conference and end our collective misery by shooting him.

  3. 3.

    qwerty42

    August 15, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Move on???
    John, there’s a war to be started. I mean, really. And not some IED kind either. This could be all nuclear and everything. wow. we need to be on board with this. lots of fun for everyone. well, maybe not the folks in Georgia, but 101st chairborne are ready.

  4. 4.

    D. Mason

    August 15, 2008 at 10:56 am

    Putin knows we are not going to go to war with him. We know that is off the table.

    Um. Speak for yourself. I don’t even suspect that it might be off the table. War with Russia would be ruinous for the U.S. but that doesn’t mean that we can’t go to war with them. If Bush decides he wants us in a war with Russia then we will be in a war with Russia. There isn’t a goddamn thing any of us can do about it either.

  5. 5.

    TheFountainHead

    August 15, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Putin knows we are not going to go to war with him. We know that is off the table. So we really don’t have any leverage whatsoever if all we are willing to say is nonsense like this. So just shut up. We screwed up. Saakashvili screwed up. The Russians took advantage of it. Move on.

    Very well said.

  6. 6.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 15, 2008 at 11:03 am

    All the Russians have is oil and natural gas to export and a rested and re-equipped military within driving distance of Georgia while we have…

  7. 7.

    jake

    August 15, 2008 at 11:04 am

    I can’t decide if this is more or less pathetic than BushCo saying “Provacative” 9,999 times after Big Bad Axis of Evile North Korea tested a nuke. Votes?

  8. 8.

    cleek

    August 15, 2008 at 11:09 am

    Bush is pretty dumb, but not completely dumb. he knows we can’t do much of anything about this. sure, we can go pout in the corner for a decade or so; we can try to shun Russia or pretend it doesn’t exist; we can try boycotting them or taking away their access to our blue jeans. but we’re not going to war with them.

    so, maybe we can assume his rhetoric is for domestic consumption… ?

  9. 9.

    CapMidnight

    August 15, 2008 at 11:09 am

    President Bush said Friday that Russia must withdraw its troops from all of Georgian territory

    and the letter M stricken from the Russian language!

    …Getaway car. <snicker>

  10. 10.

    Tsulagi

    August 15, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Putin has to be laughing his ass off at our incompetence and impotence.

    No worries, the Abraham Lincoln is already steaming to park off the coast of San Diego. While our fearless Commander Guy is busy stuffing the groin area of his flightsuit with toilet paper again awaiting to be flown out to the carrier. Mission Accomplished.

  11. 11.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 15, 2008 at 11:16 am

    Putin to Foreign Minister; “Bush says he has a gub?”

  12. 12.

    wasabi gasp

    August 15, 2008 at 11:18 am

    This reminds me of when my cat get all aggressive and hissy to other cats from behind the screen door.

  13. 13.

    Ed Drone

    August 15, 2008 at 11:22 am

    and the letter M stricken from the Russian language!

    …Getaway car.

    And:

    Putin to Foreign Minister; “Bush says he has a gub?”

    You know, sometimes I don’t get the humor in this comic strip.

    Ed

  14. 14.

    Dennis - SGMM

    August 15, 2008 at 11:27 am

    You know, sometimes I don’t get the humor in this comic strip.

    The Perfect Holdup, from “Take the Money and Run.

  15. 15.

    Some Guy Named Matt

    August 15, 2008 at 11:53 am

    everybody Apt Natural

  16. 16.

    CapMidnight

    August 15, 2008 at 11:54 am

    I have some hostages, and they are tied up in a sack at the top of a flag pole. I’m going to blow them up at midnight, unless I get these three demands: ONE! I want a million dollars! TWO: I want a getaway car waiting for me! and THREE: I want the letter M stricken from the English language. See, you have to make one crazy demand, so if they catch you, you can plead insanity. Heh, heh, getaway car.

    Comedy is Not Pretty –Steve Martin

  17. 17.

    Punchy

    August 15, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    I see the negotiations looking like this:

    Putin: WE MUST BREAK YOU!

    Georgia’s guy, Mr. Schlotsofletters: Uh…uh…GET OFF MY LAWN!

    McCane, whispering to a nearby reporter: Hey! I told him to say that! That’s MY line!

    Reporter’s article headline: “McCane helps broker key agreement in standoff….everyone–quick!–start sucking his cock!”

  18. 18.

    Wayne

    August 15, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    “I looked the man in the eye,” he said. “I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

    What a fuck-up.

  19. 19.

    TheFountainHead

    August 15, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    I see the negotiations looking like this:

    Putin: WE MUST BREAK YOU!

    Georgia’s guy, Mr. Schlotsofletters: Uh…uh…GET OFF MY LAWN!

    McCane, whispering to a nearby reporter: Hey! I told him to say that! That’s MY line!

    Reporter’s article headline: “McCane helps broker key agreement in standoff….everyone—quick!—start sucking his cock!”

    + 5 points for teh funny

    – 10 points for the image you left me with

  20. 20.

    slaney black

    August 15, 2008 at 12:29 pm

    But did he say it in a Wide Stance?

  21. 21.

    maxbaer (not the original)

    August 15, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    the United States would stand with Georgia in the conflict

    Not so much with as behind. Way behind!

  22. 22.

    Mac from Oregon

    August 15, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Not only is our going to war with Russia off the table, the Russians own the table.
    For the love of humanity, stop rattling sabers and go take a nice vacation. That means you too John McSamikins,and put away your two senatorial action figures before they cause an international oopsie.
    Move on indeed.

  23. 23.

    Dan

    August 15, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    Read Krauthammer today. We should threaten to boycott the 2012 Olympics! And a list of about 5 other things that’ll have the Russians saying “so what?”.

  24. 24.

    TCG

    August 15, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Maybe we can send Condi to Moscow and she can hold her breathe until Putin changes his mind and decides to do whatever Bush Demands.

  25. 25.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    August 15, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    “Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected,” he said.

    That sound you heard was thousands of irony meters across America exploding.

    It’s pitchforks-and-torches time, people. The current Jackass-in-Chief and his JiC-in-waiting are going to do their goddamndest to get us into a four-front war, one of them with a power that can actually fuck our shit up if they so desire, and Congress is going to go right along with it.

    Pitchforks and torches.

  26. 26.

    Gay Veteran

    August 15, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    does anyone else think it was funny that McSame is sending Sen. Graham (R-closetcase) to Georgia?

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Martini Revolution » Empty words and clownish buffoonery says:
    August 15, 2008 at 10:59 am

    […] John Cole, on Bush’s verbal attempt to castigate Russia and get back his codpiece If you really think Georgia is a vital national interest, and this is the best you can come up with, wouldn’t we be better served if we just said nothing at all rather than making idle and useless statements that only highligt how weak and inconsequential we are? Putin knows we are not going to go to war with him. We know that is off the table. So we really don’t have any leverage whatsoever if all we are willing to say is nonsense like this. So just shut up. We screwed up. Saakashvili screwed up. The Russians took advantage of it. Move on. […]

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