Kick the Anthill

There’s just nothing like the Olympics to bring out the Cold War all over again.  I was sitting in the living room watching the opening ceremonies wondering why W. is in Bejing, and why he is sitting next to Putin, and why he is talking to Putin (actually, Putin was leaning over talking to him).  The Russian Olympic team entered the arena, and the NBC commentator said something like, “These athletes have no idea that 20 minutes ago their country just went to war.”  What a thing to say.  What a thing to do.  Happy Olympics to the world — from Russia with love.

I’ve always been unhappy that my world history education never got me any further than WWII.  I even took a class in college on the Vietnam War just so I could have a dinner table conversation about the subject (it’s always nice to at least be able to say who was on what side).  Needless to say, other than what I’ve seen in the media about the fall of the Soviet Union, I know nothing.  So I immediately went looking for news on the net.  The tv news gives you pictures and figures but no reasonable interpretation, and I didn’t see any more in the “extended” Sunday morning news coverage.

From an uneducated observer, it has seemed like there is always crazy stuff going on in Eastern Europe, but I always get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see Putin (it may not be journalistic, but I am not pretending to be a journalist…and women’s intuition must count for something).  Then there is our own war going on in Iraq.  When I heard that commentator on Friday night, I really felt sick.

All this to say, Ed Morrissey wrote a good article today that gave me what I considered to be good news.  It looks like Ukraine has stepped up and thrown a gauntlet of their own.  Kudos to their nation for bravery and cool thinking.  With our domestic climate, an election cycle in process, and our troops committed to war in Iraq, I have been sitting here sweating about what we can do to help the Georgians.  It makes a lot of sense for their fellow former Soviet neighbors to come to their aid.  They may not feel up to facing the waking giant, but it seems to me that this is a battle they are all in together, even if Georgia is the prey of the day.  If Georgia falls, who’s next?  Man, I really don’t want to go there.  But I do feel a lot more confident about having Georgia’s back if it’s neighbors are ready to step up.  What’s that line from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?  “One free man defending his home is more powerful than 10 hired soldiers.”

Now about the education I’m missing — thanks to Hot Air commenter dustoffmom for reminding me about Michael Totten’s excellent reporting from the region.  And Totten points to even more excellent information at Slate.  Be sure to give them a read if your inquiring mind bends the same way as mine.  I don’t just want to know what is going on over there — I want to understand it.  That may be a tall order, but it’s certainly worth a try.  We voters certainly need to have a clue about what is going to be expected of our next PotUS and our military.  If you know of any other good information out there, please feel free to post it in the comments.

UPDATE:  More insights from See-Dubya at Michelle Malkin.  Be sure to follow the links and appropriate trackbacks.