NATO is stepping up and telling Russia to cool its jets. Russia has threatened military action against Georgia for almost a week now due to tension with two breakaway provinces on the Russian-Georgian border.
I’ll say it again: Russia needs to be put back in its place. Putin is a bit too cock-sure. And the West has stood back and let this happen. You know the old saying: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Violence. Prison. Death. Thuggery. Silenced opposition. All this and more in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. What a total nightmare.
I wish I had some constructive anecdotes to offer. A positive spin. But, I don’t. The situation seems like a fever that has to run its course.
If only we could fast forward to the part where Mugabe is being tried at The Hague.
Completely random sidebar: I had a dream last night that the Pope traveled to Zimbabwe and helped heal the wounded and feed the poor. If only life were a dream …
The US is saying that we should expect things to get more violent in Afghanistan this year. Yet another failure of the Bush Administration.
The pot might boil over in Iraq if someone (Sistani?) doesn’t step in to diffuse the situation after today’s assassination. We need to institute something like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa. Who could play Desmond Tutu? Calling Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani …
Let’s face it: the surge is not working. Just because we have diminished our definition of success does not a success make. Troops are still dying. Iraqis are still dying. There is no end in sight. Maliki is weak and ineffectual. Our resources are stretched beyond comprehension. The surge has been nothing more than a band-aide on a severed artery. And at the end of the day we are at the mercy of a radical Anti-American cleric.
Something to ponder: why do you think the Bush Team never bothered to put enough troops in Iraq to begin with? The Surge is the Bush Team’s half-ass response to pressure from all sides to do something constructive about the horrific situation in Iraq. Could it be that it was never the intention of the Bush Team to secure peace, prosperity and independence for Iraq in the first place? Hmmm …