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Friday, August 15, 2008
McCain showed best how to react to Russian force
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The world really cannot allow the Russian attempt to annex the territory of its neighbor, the republic of Georgia, to succeed.
If it does, if the West acquiesces to Russia’s seizure of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it is not necessarily a return to the Cold War. But it is the beginning of a period of heightened tensions where great risk accompanies miscalculation by either Vladimir Putin or by America’s next president, Barack Obama or John McCain. It’s no time for indecisiveness, for lack of clarity and hints of timidity.
The invasion of Georgia is, like 9/11, a defining moment — less consequential, obviously. A military response to the invasion is not an option.
While Georgia is a beacon of aspirational democracy that suffered for generations in Communist bondage, the strategic interests of the United States in the republic of Georgia are circumscribed by its location and by more direct threats to our national security elsewhere.
Still, the entire world — and the Western world in particular — has to assert every noncombat effort possible to enforce a cease-fire and to replace Russian “peacekeepers” in South Ossetia and Abkhazia with an international force. The United States and other nations cannot look away while Russia effectively annexes the two regions — not now and not two years from now.
In the initial U.S. response to the invasion, the clearly decisive leader was McCain, not Obama or President Bush. Obama’s initial reaction was to urge both the rapist and the victim to show restraint, while McCain spoke forcefully to denounce the invasion and to call for specific actions, including withdrawal from “sovereign Georgian territory,” an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, action by other official bodies and the creation of “a truly independent and neutral peacekeeping force.”
Ten days later, McCain’s first response appears to have been the right one. Obama reflected uncertainty in part because of inexperience and in part, too, because he was responding as events unfolded. He is far more comfortable, as indeed the administration’s critics are, in letting President Bush act and then declaring that he or they would have been smarter, wiser and righter had they been making the decision.
President Bush’s strongest response was to reach agreement with Poland last Thursday to base 10 interceptor missiles to protect Europe from those fired by Iran or North Korea.
In the days prior to the Russian invasion of Georgia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that “we should restore our position in Cuba and other countries.” He made comments in response to a report on a delegation’s visit with Cuban leaders to discuss cooperation in “energy, mining, agriculture transportation, health care and communications.” Military ties were specifically not mentioned, publicly at least.
But an influential former top defense official, Leonid Ivashov, was quoted in a separate report as saying: “It is not a secret that the West is creating a ‘buffer zone’ around Russia involving countries in central Europe, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Ukraine. In response, we may expand our military presence abroad, including Cuba.”
The invasion of Georgia was clearly intended as a message to the West and to the newly independent states on Russia’s borders. If, in the process, it is possible to replace Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili with a puppet, so much the better. Russia has a compelling interest now in having the entire world see Georgia suffer. It has to be painful. It has to be humiliating and brutal.
The world either agrees now that Russia can declare a sphere of interest that includes surrounding itself with compliant states. Or it exerts every noncombat effort to protect the sovereignty of Georgia and to recognize its territorial integrity. That involves some risk. Medical and humanitarian resupply, for example, would be in proximity of Russian forces.
The invasion makes the world less safe. We enter a period where Putin and other Russian leaders should have no doubts about our intentions and our resolve. We have to take some risks in undoing the aggression, but there can be no false signals. In a time of testing, America needs a seasoned leader.
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‘Green’ costs, gun ruling, watchdogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
When local governments impose higher costs on developers, as Doraville does in passing a “green” building requirement that includes recycled materials, low-flow toilets and other energy-use mandates, developers deserve compensation. A requirement imposed for the public good should obligate the public to pay the expected 2 percent to 5 percent increase in costs. At issue is redevelopment of the GM plant on I-285.
Did anybody in Georgia expect a different opinion when Marvin Shoob, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court here, got the airport gun case? No preliminary injunction prohibiting the city of Atlanta from blocking a new state law permitting licensed gun carriers to take them into the airport. “Here, the evidence demonstrates, at the very least, that there is a significant question as to whether permitting the carrying of guns in the airport is a serious threat to the public safety and welfare,” said he. Yes. He’s correct. The Legislature properly considered that question. The people’s elected representatives struck the balance they determined to be in the public interest, as is their right and duty.
Blow me over. Barack Obama’s energy policy did work. When America responded to his call to properly inflate their tires, a headline in The Wall Street Journal tells the rest of the story: “Oil Goes to the Bears/Even a War Can’t Stop Decline in Crude, Now Below $115.” Stocks rally. The dollar climbs to a 21-month high against the British pound and to a six-month high against the euro. Congress can now return to what it does best.
The people agree with Republicans on oil exploration —- 64 percent want more offshore drilling. A valiant band of House members that includes Georgians Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland, Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun continues to speak in a recessed House for Nancy Pelosi to return and vote on the issue. She’s suggested offshore drilling will be part of a larger energy package, with a vote forthcoming. The fear here? That something akin to the plan endorsed by the Gang of 10, which includes Georgia’s two senators, will strike a compromise that gives us the words “offshore drilling” but leaves the most promising pools off-limits.
The first day of the Democratic convention features Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama and Ted Kennedy. No matter who or what follows, the convention moves right.
I’m at a loss to know how to further outlaw practices that already are —- giving campaign contributions that hide the true donors, as Facility Group founder Robert Moultrie acknowledges he did in Mississippi —- but this touches on one of the major challenges facing Republicans, at least those who are conservative. The challenge? Erect a firewall between the public and private sector, built around standards, transparency and accountability. The Facility Group performs an essential function invaluable to taxpayers. It manages construction of public projects. Options are to grow the bureaucracy or farm out functions. Much prefer the latter —- at arm’s length.
How to know when a reporter or commentator disagrees with an opinion rendered by a federal judge or a panel of them? When we must know which president appointed them. Thus it is that we know that a Reagan and a Bush 41 appointee upheld a lower-court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of Valerie Plame against members of the Bush administration by a liberal “watchdog” group. A Clinton appointee dissented. One more thing: Ever hear a group on the Right or one opposed to excess regulation from, say, the Environmental Protection Agency, described as a “watchdog”?
Southern Co. and other utilities nationwide will need to spend as much as $1.5 trillion on new power plants, transmission lines and related facilities over the next 20 years, CEO David Ratcliffe projects. The cost of those projects will, of course, be passed on to ratepayers. A reminder here: Congress can levy any amount of taxes on Big Oil or any other industry on top of their normal business costs and, as with Southern and others, higher operating costs get passed on to us. As a businessman, I’d agree to any exotic energy proposal the wackiest of politicians want —- if I can build them into the rate base.
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