To the extent that Bush’s handling/response to the Russian invasion was bungled, I’m wondering how much advance notice Georgia gave the Administration about their plan to provoke Putin?

That’s an important detail in this conversation. The impression I get is that Georgia acted and then unreasonably expected us to be there within 15 minutes.

As for your second point, President Bush has no intention of starting another war, and this proposed one is incredibly undesirable for a number of reasons — the main one is that we don’t have the resources to back up any threat of military force against Russia. Sure we are beginning to see success in Iraq, but we still have to deal with Afghanistan, and we are going to need as much help as we can get if we are 100% committed to finishing the mission there.

I must confess that I am very much out of my element discussing foreign policy, so I really hope that people in power pay no attention to my opinion on these issues. I honestly don’t know what to do in this situation, but I do know that we must reward countries who support the United States — like Georgia and other Eastern European nations — and show that we won’t abandon our friends in their time of need. How do you think the United States should respond to this Russian invasion of Georgia absent threatening Russia with military action — that would change their minds about attacking their neighbors? I’m unclear about what you believe the correct response of the United States should be.

First, there are plenty on the right calling for war against Russia. Just because it’s not coming from someone who can actually execute the war is off the mark. Those in charge of the modern conservative movement (Kristol, Hewitt, Malkin, Hannity, and maybe Limbaugh to an extent) have all called for action against Russia. I do disagree with you on that point.

Secondly, the Democratic Congress doesn’t have to approve any action for the Bush administration to use force against Russia. The War Powers Act has never been challenged in court and could easily be ignored, which I wouldn’t put past King George at all.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, helping our allies, especially ones who have stood by us in Iraq, should be a priority, I totally agree with that. But wouldn’t you agree that the Bush administration pretty much left Georgia out in the cold on this one? Not only did the U.S. give every indication that we would protect them from Russia we also flirted with them the possibility of NATO membership. To me this is a huge foreign policy blunder. We hang Georgia out to dry, probably our strongest ally next to Great Britain, and barely anything is mentioned about it in the media. Mix that with the fact that McCain’s top foreign policy adviser is a paid lobbyist for Georgia and it sounds like the GOP controlled foreign affairs bunch fed Georgia a load of bull just to get them to go along with Bush’s war in Iraq.

On the other hand, if McCain’s top foreign policy adviser is a paid lobbyist for Georgia it sounds like to me he did a pretty terrible job and earned a bunch of money to sell Georgia a war for nothing in return. And McCain’s supposed to be a foreign policy guy?