Stay out of the Russian-Georgian crossfire by Doug Bandow

Today the U.S. and its European allies should be pleased that the country of Georgia is not a member of NATO, as desired by President George W. Bush. If so, we might be preparing for war with Russia.

Allied officials have been breathing fire at Moscow for months for confronting Georgia, which won its independence from the dissolving Soviet Union in 1991. At issue: the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two territories within Georgia that have declared their independence in turn.

Such an arcane territorial dispute between two former parts of the Soviet Union over the disposition of two even smaller parts doesn’t concern the United States, or even Europe. But one should never underestimate Washington’s determination to micro-manage global affairs.

Throughout its history, Georgia was a target of foreign invasion by competing empires, and was forced into the Russian empire in 1801. The collapse of communist rule in the Soviet Union led to Georgia’s declaration of independence in 1991. Mikhail Saakashvili rode the so-called Rose Revolution to power in 2004, but has demonstrated his own authoritarian tendencies.

This all was of little concern to America and Europe. However, Georgia has consistently sought U.S. and European support in resisting Russian encroachments.

As a result, Georgia wants to join NATO. The idea is nutty on its face. Georgia is irrelevant to allied security and brings few military assets to the table.

Most important, including Georgia in NATO would force the alliance to take Georgia’s side against Russia in any territorial disputes. Such as in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Separatism in both territories led to fighting and eventual cease-fires, backed by Russian peacekeeping forces, in the early 1990s. Tensions recently flared anew.

Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly lobbied NATO not to begin membership talks with Georgia at the alliance’s summit last spring. Georgia retaliated by breaking off talks with Russia over the latter’s accession to the World Trade Organization.

Now the dispute has flared into war, with Georgia’s attempt at a blitzkrieg takeover of South Ossetia and Russia’s intervention to defend the latter.

These are nasty little conflicts to be sure, but of no consequence to the West. First, neither side is obviously right. As the U.S. and leading European nations recently decided for Kosovo, secession can be a valid demand.

Second, outside involvement in otherwise internal struggles is a constant of international relations. Indeed, given Georgia’s proximity to Russia, Moscow has far more at stake in the future of Abkhazia and South Ossetia than Washington had in Kosovo, which it “liberated” through direct military intervention.

Yet Western officials and pundits are treating the Georgia-Russia confrontation as if it mattered. Before the current round of fighting, presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain insisted that “we must not allow Russia to believe it has a free hand to engage in policies that undermine Georgian sovereignty.”

Why not?

Let us stipulate that Moscow should avoid NATO’s Balkan precedent and America’s Iraq precedent and stay out of Georgia’s internal affairs. And never mind that the U.S. routinely intervenes in its “backyard” in Latin America.

The U.S. and Europeans should tell Russia that it is wrong and move on. Put bluntly, Georgia doesn’t matter.

Sens. Joseph Biden and Richard Lugar call Georgia “an important friend,” but by that standard there is no country on earth that is not an “important friend.” So many “important friends,” so little time and money.

Many Georgians thirst for real liberty, but their country doesn’t matter to Western security. Abkhazia and South Ossetia aren’t even critical to Georgia. Their combined population is less than 300,000, compared to Georgia’s 4.6 million inhabitants.

In contrast, America and the Europeans have much at stake with Russia. It remains a nuclear-armed power with significant, if weakened, conventional forces, as well as a veto on the U.N. Security Council. Moreover, mutual antagonism toward U.S. dominance is the lifeblood of improved Chinese-Russian relations.

In short, nothing in Georgia is worth a confrontation with Moscow.

The United States is the globe’s sole superpower. Washington really doesn’t have to worry about everything that goes on everywhere.

Does that mean that small states stuck in a “bad neighborhood,” such as Georgia, might face unpleasant pressure at times? Yes, but it is not America’s — or Europe’s — duty to right every wrong, especially when doing so interferes with the ability to achieve more important objectives elsewhere.

The principle duty of the U.S. government is to protect America — its people, liberties, constitutional system and territory. America’s leaders should focus on the interests of their own political community rather than plan crusades, always expensive and often bloody, on behalf of other countries to slay imagined monsters around the globe.

Doug Bandow is the Robert A. Taft fellow at the American Conservative Defense Alliance. A former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author of “Foreign Follies.”

From Eureka Reporter
http://eurekareporter.com/article/080811-stay-out-of-the-russian-georgia...