At first glance it could be a case of hats off to the McCain Campaign in their appointment of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate. Not only is she very youthful but also very photogenic which will guarantee her, and therefore the Republican Party, plenty of airtime and column inches. Another draw over Obama which they think will have an impact, is the claim to the large percentage of disaffected Hillary Clinton vote who have stubbornly refused to back the Democrat nomination.
That's at first glance, on closer inspection it seems that the Republicans have undermined McCain's strongest point of attack on Obama, his lack of experience. She has been in Office less than two years and is already under investigation for abusing her position over the sacking of a Public Safety Commissioner who was reluctant to sack her former brother-in -law involved in an acrimonious divorce with her younger sister.
That episode is seeing her backtracking and contradicting herself and is sure to come under the microscope as is her links with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation and the Oil Industry where her husband presently works for BP as well as possible ties to longtime Alaska Republican senator Ted Stevens, who is under indictment on corruption charges.
The Democrats should also raise questions about whether the inexperienced Palin passes the "commander-in-chief test" which is would she be able to assume the presidency should McCain, 72, become incapacitated.
Interesting choice by the Republicans which could either work to their advantage by attracting the PUMA's (although referring to Hillary as a whiner may work against her) and making them more media friendly or could easily expose them to a new angle of attack as picking a female candidate and forsaking more experienced choices in order to cynically pander to the Hillary voters.
If the Democrats play this right, Sarah Palin could soon be left helplessly twisting in the wind as the Obama Team attack the flank that McCain has surprisingly exposed to them.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Thursday, 28 August 2008
The Celebrity Endorsements
That shy and retiring strumpet Madonna has nailed her colours to the mast with regards to who is not going to get her postal vote in November although lumping John McCain in the same category as Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe was a bit over the top. As this shows, enthusiastic endorsements from celebrities can be as embarrassing as they can be helpful to a potential President but the entertainers do like to think that they are helping by lending their name to their hopefuls campaign. Bless 'em.
The Democrats have been easing off the celebrity stardust at their Convention while poor old Sen. McCain is finding Celebrity stardust harder to find.
Obama's celebrity endorsers include Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney, Kanye West, Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Aniston, Robert DeNiro, Ed Norton, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Barry Manilow and of course Madonna.
There is a fine set of actors and actresses in that line-up but what about the celebrities that have jumped on the McCain bandwagon? Admittedly, the list isn't long, but it's the quality and not the quantity that counts which is unfortunate as McCain fails on both counts.
A recent fund-raiser at the Beverly Hills Hilton drew Gary Sinise who i know from Forrest Gump and Of Mice & Men, Superman actor Dean Cain, Jon Voight and Jon Cryer of Pretty in Pink fame.
Sylvester Stallone has come out in favour of the Republican as has Tom Selleck.
On the music front what's left of the Beach Boys are to appear at the Republican convention so that's the Celebrity line ups.
Obama can call on some heavyweight actors but his musical talent is a little, well, rubbish to be honest while McCain will hurt his knuckles scraping the bottom of that particular barrel actor wise but i would take the Beach Boys over a few verses of Mandy or Material Girl anytime.
All together now:
Well since he put me down I've been out doin' in my head
I come in late at night and in the mornin' I just lay in bed
Well, Obama you look so fine
And I know it wouldn't take much time
For you to help me Bama
Because my Rally's fast falling apart
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Help me Bama, Help, help me Bama,..............
The Democrats have been easing off the celebrity stardust at their Convention while poor old Sen. McCain is finding Celebrity stardust harder to find.
Obama's celebrity endorsers include Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney, Kanye West, Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Aniston, Robert DeNiro, Ed Norton, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Barry Manilow and of course Madonna.
There is a fine set of actors and actresses in that line-up but what about the celebrities that have jumped on the McCain bandwagon? Admittedly, the list isn't long, but it's the quality and not the quantity that counts which is unfortunate as McCain fails on both counts.
A recent fund-raiser at the Beverly Hills Hilton drew Gary Sinise who i know from Forrest Gump and Of Mice & Men, Superman actor Dean Cain, Jon Voight and Jon Cryer of Pretty in Pink fame.
Sylvester Stallone has come out in favour of the Republican as has Tom Selleck.
On the music front what's left of the Beach Boys are to appear at the Republican convention so that's the Celebrity line ups.
Obama can call on some heavyweight actors but his musical talent is a little, well, rubbish to be honest while McCain will hurt his knuckles scraping the bottom of that particular barrel actor wise but i would take the Beach Boys over a few verses of Mandy or Material Girl anytime.
All together now:
Well since he put me down I've been out doin' in my head
I come in late at night and in the mornin' I just lay in bed
Well, Obama you look so fine
And I know it wouldn't take much time
For you to help me Bama
Because my Rally's fast falling apart
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Help me Bama, Help, help me Bama,..............
When Two Tribes Go To War
Tensions between Russia and America are at the lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall in the nineties and British Foreign Secretary David Milliband has said that Russia has a "responsibility" not to start a new Cold War although the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said his country is unafraid of a new Cold War and the Russian media seem to be actively encouraging it with one newspaper running the headline 'Tak You!' above an image of a fist with its middle finger raised.The last Cold War ran from the 1940's to the 1990's and although the downside was the threat of the destruction of the World, the competitive nature of the Cold War quickly fueled the creation of important inventions we use today so it wasn't all bad.
Use a Microwave Oven at all today? You can thank the Cold War for that invention as also the computer that you are reading this on and the Internet that the computer is plugged into. Hang gliders, the television signals beamed from across the Globe to our TV set in the front room, smoke detectors and the Sat Nav in our cars are all Cold War Inventions.
Apart from the inventions and some fantastic Soviet propaganda posters, there were a few great songs like Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and London Calling by The Clash although they were far outweighed by the stinkers like Nena's 99 red balloons, Final Countdown by Europe, Land of Confusion by Phil Collins, and the terrible Through The Barricades by Spandau Ballet.
If we are going to enter another Cold War, could we have a higher quality of song please and keep Phil Collins and Spandau Ballet away from a recording studio.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Conserevapedia & The Mentally Ill
Grand Theft Auto Vice City gives these useful tips to spot if your child might be a red.
"They read complicated literature and have concern for their fellow man. They even like to share. Tell your kids that if someone approaches them with pamphlets about recycling or show any doubts about the fairness of our system then they should find a teacher or a policeman immediately".
Of course the games creators are mocking the crazy thinking of the Political Right but sometimes the right make a decent fist of making themselves look as intelligent as they sound like in this brilliant piece from our favourite Right Wing oddballs, Conservapedia, entitled 'Do Liberal Teachings Cause Mental Illness?'
It goes on to explain that 'Mental illness is increasing and the ten countries with the highest suicide rates are all former Soviet states which are notable for imposing liberal teachings on their population. In the US, liberal indoctrination governs public schools which educate 89% of children and an estimated 20% of these children have a mental illness.
It concludes that 'Medical professionals emphasize that they do not know what causes mental illness. Accordingly, they cannot rule out that liberal indoctrination is a contributing factor.
Teaching children to accept and believe things that are demonstrably false cannot help mental health. Included in this category are the liberal teachings in school that:
- lying about the truth, causing belief in falsehoods
- there are no real differences between boys and girls
- humans are just another type of animal
- all there is is what you see
- that an unproven unconscious excuses evil actions
- self-inflicted death can somehow be good
- denying self-defense, mentally and physically
- denying the ability to control sexual desires
- promoting lifestyles that lead to mental illness
- insisting on an illogical and unjustified separation of church and state
Conservapedia, where the mentally ill come to write pages like this.
"They read complicated literature and have concern for their fellow man. They even like to share. Tell your kids that if someone approaches them with pamphlets about recycling or show any doubts about the fairness of our system then they should find a teacher or a policeman immediately".
Of course the games creators are mocking the crazy thinking of the Political Right but sometimes the right make a decent fist of making themselves look as intelligent as they sound like in this brilliant piece from our favourite Right Wing oddballs, Conservapedia, entitled 'Do Liberal Teachings Cause Mental Illness?'
It goes on to explain that 'Mental illness is increasing and the ten countries with the highest suicide rates are all former Soviet states which are notable for imposing liberal teachings on their population. In the US, liberal indoctrination governs public schools which educate 89% of children and an estimated 20% of these children have a mental illness.
It concludes that 'Medical professionals emphasize that they do not know what causes mental illness. Accordingly, they cannot rule out that liberal indoctrination is a contributing factor.
Teaching children to accept and believe things that are demonstrably false cannot help mental health. Included in this category are the liberal teachings in school that:
- lying about the truth, causing belief in falsehoods
- there are no real differences between boys and girls
- humans are just another type of animal
- all there is is what you see
- that an unproven unconscious excuses evil actions
- self-inflicted death can somehow be good
- denying self-defense, mentally and physically
- denying the ability to control sexual desires
- promoting lifestyles that lead to mental illness
- insisting on an illogical and unjustified separation of church and state
Conservapedia, where the mentally ill come to write pages like this.
India's Superpower Behaviour
I can accept China, Russia and the USA as potential superpowers for this century but have never bought into India emerging to straddle the Globe as a World power. It does seem a case of the Emperors new clothes with everybody else just toeing the line and nobody important saying 'India to be the Superpower?' and then trotting off to the Hospital to get there flabber re-gasted.
What India have been doing recently which all three of the aforementioned potentials have been doing with regularity though is killing innocent civilians. China has Tibet, Russia has Georgia and the USA has Iraq & Afghanistan and now India, quietly, have been shooting dead unarmed demonstrators in Kashmir.
In the latest incident, Indian security forces fired into crowds of several thousand unarmed peace demonstrators adding four more deaths to the many hundreds killed by Indian forces. Humans Right Watch released a 160 page report on human rights abuses in Kashmir by Indian troops three years ago and Amnesty International have been condemning "extra-judicial executions", "disappearances", and "torture" being performed by the Indians for as long as i can remember. Nope, not many other people have heard about it either although the barbaric slaughter of innocent civilians in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by Indian troops did bring events in the region to our attention for a few days.
The Indian authorities are attempting to snuff out the protests against it's authoritarian rule in the area which has been disputed since 1947 and has caused two wars between India and Pakistan although thankfully not since both became the newest members of the nuclear club.
Hang on, extra-judicial executions, disappearances and torture? Sounds like Superpower behaviour to me after all.
What India have been doing recently which all three of the aforementioned potentials have been doing with regularity though is killing innocent civilians. China has Tibet, Russia has Georgia and the USA has Iraq & Afghanistan and now India, quietly, have been shooting dead unarmed demonstrators in Kashmir.
In the latest incident, Indian security forces fired into crowds of several thousand unarmed peace demonstrators adding four more deaths to the many hundreds killed by Indian forces. Humans Right Watch released a 160 page report on human rights abuses in Kashmir by Indian troops three years ago and Amnesty International have been condemning "extra-judicial executions", "disappearances", and "torture" being performed by the Indians for as long as i can remember. Nope, not many other people have heard about it either although the barbaric slaughter of innocent civilians in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by Indian troops did bring events in the region to our attention for a few days.
The Indian authorities are attempting to snuff out the protests against it's authoritarian rule in the area which has been disputed since 1947 and has caused two wars between India and Pakistan although thankfully not since both became the newest members of the nuclear club.
Hang on, extra-judicial executions, disappearances and torture? Sounds like Superpower behaviour to me after all.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Confused by Hillary Supporters
It is not easy to find many people outside of Republican voting Americans rooting for a McCain win in the upcoming US Presidential elections. If the man does have any redeeming features he is doing well to keep them hidden although Obama's choice of Joe Biden doesn't seem to have enhanced his cause much. Actually, looking hard at Bidens record makes some very uncomfortable reading for those whose biggest concern with this present Republican Administration is its foreign policy. Biden is not the best choice to exaggerate the gap between McCain's pro and Obama's anti-war stance.
Yesterdays Washington Post-ABC news poll show that the lead Obama commanded is being chipped away and now stands at 49% to McCains 45%. Take into account the 2% margin of error and Obama supporters are understandably starting to sweat and will be hoping for a bounce from this weeks Democrat Convention.
What the same poll also highlighted was that a large number of Hillary Clinton supporters are now backing McCain which causes me a bit of head scratching. It seems the ultimate sour grapes to change allegiance to the enemy just because your first choice didn't get the job but then maybe the US election is a completely different animal to the Party politics we have here.
It is almost unheard of for Party members to flip from Labour to Conservative or vice versa, they are completely different animals and the large majority stay with their chosen Party regardless, opting not to vote or vote tactically for the Liberal Democrats if they want to hand out a bloody nose to their own.
Is the ideological difference between Republicans and Democrats so small that one is able to ricochet between the two or do the voters elect Presidents purely depending upon who is running the Party at the time and are quite willing to change sides if they don't like them?
Seems a very strange thing for Hillary supporters to turn their guns on the Party they were lauding a few months ago. If you don't like Obama, for whatever reason, stay at home and just don't vote otherwise you are just cutting off your nose to spite your face and i just don't understand that thinking at all.
Yesterdays Washington Post-ABC news poll show that the lead Obama commanded is being chipped away and now stands at 49% to McCains 45%. Take into account the 2% margin of error and Obama supporters are understandably starting to sweat and will be hoping for a bounce from this weeks Democrat Convention.
What the same poll also highlighted was that a large number of Hillary Clinton supporters are now backing McCain which causes me a bit of head scratching. It seems the ultimate sour grapes to change allegiance to the enemy just because your first choice didn't get the job but then maybe the US election is a completely different animal to the Party politics we have here.
It is almost unheard of for Party members to flip from Labour to Conservative or vice versa, they are completely different animals and the large majority stay with their chosen Party regardless, opting not to vote or vote tactically for the Liberal Democrats if they want to hand out a bloody nose to their own.
Is the ideological difference between Republicans and Democrats so small that one is able to ricochet between the two or do the voters elect Presidents purely depending upon who is running the Party at the time and are quite willing to change sides if they don't like them?
Seems a very strange thing for Hillary supporters to turn their guns on the Party they were lauding a few months ago. If you don't like Obama, for whatever reason, stay at home and just don't vote otherwise you are just cutting off your nose to spite your face and i just don't understand that thinking at all.
Monday, 25 August 2008
Boris Johnson Doesn't Mess Up Shock
Anyone who watched the Olympic closing ceremony couldn't have failed to have seen the London Mayor making his way down the red carpet to receive the flag and mantle of next Olympic hosts.
There is no easy way to describe old Etonian Boris Johnson because Conservative twit with a penchant for affairs with his secretaries just doesn't seem to cover it.
There he was standing in front of a billion people with his jacket unfastened to show off his rotund form and struggling to wave a flag three times. The general consensus was that he would somehow set his hair on fire or cause an international incident by goosing the Beijing Prime Minister but credit to the man, he didn't do either although it was probably sensible to keep him well away from the microphone. He has put his foot into his mouth on so many occasions that he has been treated for athletes tongue so he just walked on, struggled to wave the flag a bit and got off to leave the stage for a London Bus and the beautiful Leona Lewis and some old bloke with a guitar nobody under 30 has ever heard of playing a song from 1969. How hip and cool are we. If we have to ask who he is how is the rest of the World to know who the old guy gurning away on top of the bus is.
David Beckham completed the 'famous' trio and did what he did best, smashing the ball into the crowd which is exactly what he generally does from the penalty spot.
The rest of our 8 minutes was filled by dancers prancing about beside a bus stop, an everday occurrence in Deptford High Street as i recall.
Vistors to London may be disappointed to discover that the number 73 to Kings Cross doesn't open up to reveal famous singers, footballers and vague guitarists pulling weird faces. You want the number 12 for that.
There is no easy way to describe old Etonian Boris Johnson because Conservative twit with a penchant for affairs with his secretaries just doesn't seem to cover it.
There he was standing in front of a billion people with his jacket unfastened to show off his rotund form and struggling to wave a flag three times. The general consensus was that he would somehow set his hair on fire or cause an international incident by goosing the Beijing Prime Minister but credit to the man, he didn't do either although it was probably sensible to keep him well away from the microphone. He has put his foot into his mouth on so many occasions that he has been treated for athletes tongue so he just walked on, struggled to wave the flag a bit and got off to leave the stage for a London Bus and the beautiful Leona Lewis and some old bloke with a guitar nobody under 30 has ever heard of playing a song from 1969. How hip and cool are we. If we have to ask who he is how is the rest of the World to know who the old guy gurning away on top of the bus is.
David Beckham completed the 'famous' trio and did what he did best, smashing the ball into the crowd which is exactly what he generally does from the penalty spot.
The rest of our 8 minutes was filled by dancers prancing about beside a bus stop, an everday occurrence in Deptford High Street as i recall.
Vistors to London may be disappointed to discover that the number 73 to Kings Cross doesn't open up to reveal famous singers, footballers and vague guitarists pulling weird faces. You want the number 12 for that.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Joe Biden and Neil Kinnock
The US Presidential campaign has been pushed out of the news agenda by the Olympic Games but it has been slowly grinding on as we looked towards China and after glancing at the Olympic Medal Table to make sure we were still above Australia, i went to have a look at what Obama and McCain had been up to since the last time i looked in.
Seems that the down to earth, man of the people McCain has lost track of how many houses he owns (don't you just hate it when that happens) and Obama is about to announce his Vice President with the hot favourite being Senator Joe Biden.
Now Joe Biden is not well known name outside of America but his name once briefly graced our newspaper headlines for an association with Neil Kinnock of all people. Or rather one of the firebrand Socialist and former Labour Party Leaders speeches in particular.
Let's go back to the 1987 Democrat nominations and there's Mr Biden making an emotive speech about education.
The Biden speech had gone: "I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college?"
Pretty impressive or it would be if it hadn't been lifted almost word for word from what Kinnock had said earlier about himself and his wife Glenys in a tear-jerking account of his deprived Welsh upbringing.
The scandal that followed in America made sure Senator Biden's Presidential chances were done for and although it was over 20 years ago, someone on the Republican side is sure to remember or stumble across it while googling one day and throw it at Biden to question Obama's VP selection.
This reminiscing does give us the chance to remember Neil Kinnock especially the time when he humorously fell over on a beach as he tried to escape a wave and got his expensive suit soaked. Neil Kinnock, remembered for making himself look a prat and for his short lived career as muse to American Vice Presidential wannabe's.
Seems that the down to earth, man of the people McCain has lost track of how many houses he owns (don't you just hate it when that happens) and Obama is about to announce his Vice President with the hot favourite being Senator Joe Biden.
Now Joe Biden is not well known name outside of America but his name once briefly graced our newspaper headlines for an association with Neil Kinnock of all people. Or rather one of the firebrand Socialist and former Labour Party Leaders speeches in particular.
Let's go back to the 1987 Democrat nominations and there's Mr Biden making an emotive speech about education.
The Biden speech had gone: "I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college?"
Pretty impressive or it would be if it hadn't been lifted almost word for word from what Kinnock had said earlier about himself and his wife Glenys in a tear-jerking account of his deprived Welsh upbringing.
The scandal that followed in America made sure Senator Biden's Presidential chances were done for and although it was over 20 years ago, someone on the Republican side is sure to remember or stumble across it while googling one day and throw it at Biden to question Obama's VP selection.
This reminiscing does give us the chance to remember Neil Kinnock especially the time when he humorously fell over on a beach as he tried to escape a wave and got his expensive suit soaked. Neil Kinnock, remembered for making himself look a prat and for his short lived career as muse to American Vice Presidential wannabe's.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Can You Repeat Your Name Please
The BBC has a Pronunciation Unit which researches the correct way to say places or people with unusual names. As sophisticated as this sounds, it is basically BBC researchers ringing up the person or an embassy and asking how do you say these names. That is how German footballer Stefan Kuntz was pronounced Koontz on the BBC and not how the rest of us pronounced it.
The Unit entered meltdown when the Olympics started and television presenters were faced with wrapping their tongues around names such as the Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakon but that is one of the best parts of the Olympics, we don't have to rely on German footballers with humorous names to bring out the 10-year-old in all of us because there are some great names strutting their stuff in Beijing.
First up are the aptly named Ghanese Boxer Prince Octopus, USA woman's goalkeeper Hope Solo and Canadian baseball player Stubby Clapp which sounds like something you would need ointment from a clinic to clear up.
Hopefully the parents of athlete Destinee Hooker were not trying to predict a future career path for their daughter and i thank the folks of synchronised swimmer Gisela Moron and Polish handball player Adam Weiner for not having the good sense to change names and deprive me of a cheap laugh. Same goes to ma and pa Thongsuk, parents of weightlifter Sureerat Thongsuk but as usual it is the genitalia related monikers that cause the most schoolgirl sniggering.
Step forward Micaela Cocks, Daisy Dick, Stephen Dick, Curtis Kock, Melanie Kok, Ahmet Peker and Rafael Pennisi. Japanese volleyballer Yoshie Takeshita deserves a special mention as does bronze medal winning Dong Dong from Chinas Trampoline team who won bronze so maybe his parents knew he was going to be so good, they named him twice.
The Unit entered meltdown when the Olympics started and television presenters were faced with wrapping their tongues around names such as the Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakon but that is one of the best parts of the Olympics, we don't have to rely on German footballers with humorous names to bring out the 10-year-old in all of us because there are some great names strutting their stuff in Beijing.
First up are the aptly named Ghanese Boxer Prince Octopus, USA woman's goalkeeper Hope Solo and Canadian baseball player Stubby Clapp which sounds like something you would need ointment from a clinic to clear up.
Hopefully the parents of athlete Destinee Hooker were not trying to predict a future career path for their daughter and i thank the folks of synchronised swimmer Gisela Moron and Polish handball player Adam Weiner for not having the good sense to change names and deprive me of a cheap laugh. Same goes to ma and pa Thongsuk, parents of weightlifter Sureerat Thongsuk but as usual it is the genitalia related monikers that cause the most schoolgirl sniggering.
Step forward Micaela Cocks, Daisy Dick, Stephen Dick, Curtis Kock, Melanie Kok, Ahmet Peker and Rafael Pennisi. Japanese volleyballer Yoshie Takeshita deserves a special mention as does bronze medal winning Dong Dong from Chinas Trampoline team who won bronze so maybe his parents knew he was going to be so good, they named him twice.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Georgia In NATO
Am the only person who sometimes feels that someone has turned over two pages at once to leave me frantically searching for the part i missed that allowed the person to reach the conclusion that they have?
There was a NATO summit not so long ago where the issue of Georgia being allowed into NATO was shot down in flames by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who gave a nod towards the camp that suspected the Georgian President was too much of a loose cannon.
Move on a few months and days after Georgia have razed a city to the ground with missiles, killed over 2000 foreign nationals and provoked a war with one of the greatest military arsenals on the planet and then bizarelly it's 'hold on, maybe Georgia should be in NATO after all.'
Just in case Maerkel has forgotten, the premiss of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is that 'an armed attack against one or more of them shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that each of them will assist the Party attacked by taking such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force'.
The only thing different between when Merkel said no and now is that Georgia have started a calamitous War but far from distancing themselves from it with a 'told you so' glance towards George Bush, the decision is being discussed that it should now be bought into NATO so next time it decides to pick a fight with Russia, and Saakashvili will the first chance he gets, it will do so knowing that it won't just be a relatively minor 5 day conflict confined to East Europe, it will draw in the likes of America, Britain, Canada, Germany, France and Turkey to face off against Russia.
Why is that the West couldn't do enough to help Albanians in Kosovo but are quite content to leave Russians in Ossettia to their fate? Same difference isn't it?
Inviting a nation to join an Organisation like NATO while it's guns are still smoking and it's victims are still digging out their dead, would be one of the worst possible moves in history and no amount of oil and gas being piped through Georgia is worth starting a World War over, and certainly not for a man like Saakashvili who would be in the Hague for crimes against humanity if it wasn't for his friends in high places. Think again Merkel.
There was a NATO summit not so long ago where the issue of Georgia being allowed into NATO was shot down in flames by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who gave a nod towards the camp that suspected the Georgian President was too much of a loose cannon.
Move on a few months and days after Georgia have razed a city to the ground with missiles, killed over 2000 foreign nationals and provoked a war with one of the greatest military arsenals on the planet and then bizarelly it's 'hold on, maybe Georgia should be in NATO after all.'
Just in case Maerkel has forgotten, the premiss of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is that 'an armed attack against one or more of them shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that each of them will assist the Party attacked by taking such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force'.
The only thing different between when Merkel said no and now is that Georgia have started a calamitous War but far from distancing themselves from it with a 'told you so' glance towards George Bush, the decision is being discussed that it should now be bought into NATO so next time it decides to pick a fight with Russia, and Saakashvili will the first chance he gets, it will do so knowing that it won't just be a relatively minor 5 day conflict confined to East Europe, it will draw in the likes of America, Britain, Canada, Germany, France and Turkey to face off against Russia.
Why is that the West couldn't do enough to help Albanians in Kosovo but are quite content to leave Russians in Ossettia to their fate? Same difference isn't it?
Inviting a nation to join an Organisation like NATO while it's guns are still smoking and it's victims are still digging out their dead, would be one of the worst possible moves in history and no amount of oil and gas being piped through Georgia is worth starting a World War over, and certainly not for a man like Saakashvili who would be in the Hague for crimes against humanity if it wasn't for his friends in high places. Think again Merkel.
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