Some Thoughts On Russia.

This is more of a string of inter connected thoughts than a full comment.

Russia's attack on Georgia looks more and more as though it were planned in advance. The behaviour of the Russian state over recent years demonstrates that not only is it extremely unpleasant but unlike say China, it is a danger to the rest of the world. To list a few examples of Russia's recent behaviour:

• Nuclear terrorism in London, by which I mean the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
• Refusing to extradite the main suspect in the Litvinenko case, despite having signed an international extradition treaty.
  
• Occupation of Moldovan and Georgian territory.
• The attempted murder of Victor Yuchenko, now president of Ukraine.
• Threatening Estonia over the placement of a statue honouring the Red Army.
• Threatening to annex part of the Ukraine.
• Murdering exiled opponents in Qatar.

In other words Russia has clearly been a rogue state even before they tried the Sudetenland gambit of claiming to protect their citizens in another country.

Georgia should be brought into NATO immediately and a base established there.


Various other Russia related points to comment on include the Norfolk Blogger asking why the west has allowed itself to become dependent on Russian gas, this is true to a point but we should also realise that Russia is dependent upon our buying it. Marko Attila Hoare rejects the bogus comparison between the Georgian breakaway regions and Kosovo. EU referendum has a series of good posts on the issue including the reaction of the EU:

Russia is bombing cities inside Georgia, including the outskirts of Tbilisi, and has sunk at least one Georgian boat in Georgian waters. Gori is being evacuated and the Baku-Tbilisi oil pipeline has been bombed though not, apparently, put out of action.

The EU, the body that demands that it becomes our sole representative on the international scene is preparing to call an emergency meeting of foreign ministers and this will take place, possibly, on Wednesday. Or possibly not.

This is called a Rapid Reaction in EU circles.