Shir, I don't think we have any Buffistas in that part of the world, thankfully. Those people are still in my thoughts.

This whole Russia/Georgia thing is freaking me out. Russia is using a huge show of force, and the Caucasus is Russia's short route into the Arabian peninsula. This could get ugly fast.

Have the Arab nations shown any interest in it? Russia is a formidable force, but I don't think they would ever get involved in elsewhere.

Ukraine "reserves the right" to blockade Russian naval ships from returning to bases.

This could/is getting ugly fast.

Have the Arab nations shown any interest in it? Russia is a formidable force, but I don't think they would ever get involved in elsewhere.

Just a couple of things to think about:

The U.S. already has some oil pipelines through parts of Georgia. This is already in danger of "threatening U.S. interests."

Russia wouldn't have to occupy or spend much time in Turkey to secure a route into Iraq.

A significant portion of our troops are already tied down in Iraq.

It wouldn't take too many missteps/escalations to start triggering a cascade of alliances that quickly involve Western powers -- think Guns of August, only this time, the big boys have nukes.

Yes, this is absolute worst case scenarios I'm talking about, but when events start skirting worst case scenario territory? Well, they should be considered.

The geopolitics were slightly different back then (Georgia was a Soviet Republic back then), but this is for sure one of the "Start of WWIII" scenarios that were practiced in war games during the Cold War.

And Russia's absolute deafness toward the West during all of this? Yeah, there's a good chance that at best this all means the Cold War has restarted with a vengeance.

Do you trust George W. Bush and Putin to keep it from turning into a Hot War?

Do you trust George W. Bush and Putin to keep it from turning into a Hot War?

Of course not, but I think a lot more would have to happen before we get into that sort of situation.

Certainly, though, the US has spent the last few years significantly arming Georgia via weapons sales (and, I think, training - under the objective of the war on terror bunk). So it's funny the way things have worked out.

I think a lot more would have to happen before we get into that sort of situation.

Yes, we're not one misstep away from really bad news territory, but we're not a whole lot of missteps away from it either. At a minimum, I think we can expect to see Georgia pretty much repatriated into Russia before all this is through.

Which makes Russia and Turkey neighbors.

And if the Ukraine makes good on its threat to get involved navally? Putin strikes me as exactly the type of guy to use that as an excuse to attempt to repatriate them, too. Then we're talking a much bigger and more dangerous conflict.

It had to happen sometime, but it's still a bummer.

The Wall Arch in Utah's Arches national park has collapsed.

ION, I just talked to my father and my grandmother (separately). He sounds pretty good, and is I guess sitting up, which he was too dizzy for yesterday, so that's something, although they are keeping him in the hospital one more night.

Georgia has ordered its forces to cease fire, and offered to start talks with Russia over an end to hostilities in South Ossetia, Georgian officials say.

[link]

Sitting up sounds like good news.

I think I left my meds at work, and I am trying to decide if I need to go get them-- I really do not want to, because it will take about 2 hours, but I get withdrawal pretty quick-- these weird zaps in my brain, so I probably should, because otherwise I will waste the whole day.

I also just had a scare with my w key-- I took it off to fix it and all these little plastic pieces came out-- but I was able to take the e key off and see how it was supposed to go.