Kristof not drinking the Kool-Aid on Misha the Aggrieved

OP-ED: "Obama, Misha And the Bear," by Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, 20 November 2008.

Yes, we are all impressed with the brilliance that is Misha, so smart was he to start that war just as the Olympics kicked off, getting his country's ass kicked while he survived on nightly cellphone pep talks from bud John McCain. Even Obama agreed with John that the West should continue the effort to bring Georgia into NATO.

But not so fast, says Nick, calling it "an awful idea."

Why? "Georgia isn't quite the shining beacon of democracy that Americans sometimes believe."

As for who started what?

The most likely explanation is that Misha, tired of continuous Russian provocations and emboldened by American support, saw a chance to recover territories that Russians were nibbling on. That was spectacularly reckless, and as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented, the Georgian Army (along with Russia's) fired cluster bombs that harmed civilians.

"It was possible to avoid this war," said Nino Burjanadze, a former close ally of Misha who last month formed an opposition party to challenge him. "Because of miscalculation, my country was involved in a war that it was clear it would lose."

Exactly.

Here's the real advice from Nick:

Note to Mr. Obama: It would be a nightmare to have our troops tethered through NATO to Misha. In any case, Georgia doesn't obviously qualify for NATO membership since it doesn't control its full territory, while the talk about NATO pushes all the wrong Russian nationalist buttons.

Even better advice:

"NATO is not Georgia's future," said Amy Denman, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia. "Georgia's future is economic growth. If they can continue the economic growth cycle they're on, they're safe."

Kristof ends by saying we need to reconsider missile defense in Europe.

Smart man.