INTERNATIONAL: “Why McCain Loves Misha: Georgia’s president is a man after the Republican nominee’s heart. That’s what worries some advisers,” by Owen Matthews, Newsweek, 29 September 2008.
The scary part, beyond the fact that Georgia is paying McCain’s senior foreign policy advisers as lobbyists:
Mikheil Saakashvili, his eyes bloodshot from sleeplessness and his face caked with television makeup, summoned his closest advisers into his office above Tbilisi’s Old City. It was 2 a.m. on Aug. 12 and columns of Russian tanks were rolling down the highway toward the Georgian capital. “I am never going to flee,” the president told his team. “I will not live my life regretting that I abandoned my own country at war.” Then he sent them home to change out their suits and ties so they could fight the invaders. Swigging a can of Red Bull, Saakashvili grabbed a phone and called the trusted friend and mentor he had turned to every night since Aug. 8, when the war began: John McCain. A source close to the Republican standard-beared, asking not to be named discussing a private conversation, says McCain voiced support for diplomatic and political pressure against Moscow. “Hang in there,” the senator said, according to a Saakaskvili aide on condition of anonymity. “We are not going to let this happen … We are doing everything that we can to stop this aggression.” It’s not surprising that Saakashvili, 41, known to Georgians by the nickname Misha, would turn to McCain at a moment of crisis: their decade-long friendship is among the closest McCain has with any foreign leader.
Nice to hear. A rogue, maverick senator advising foreign leaders—on the side—on how to restart the Cold War. Imagine if Obama did this, how the Republican realists would howl in contempt!
Misha the impatient and intolerant, we are told, “has lost patience with dissenters”:
His government is now a one-man show, former allies complain. “Misha is the only one making decisions in Georgia,” says former foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili, now an opposition leader. “He was alone when he made a decision to start the war, and he is alone now. The world needs to beware.”
No Salome, Misha’s hardly alone in his quest.
Here’s the best stuff:
Russia plainly wanted to lure Saakashvili into a war he couldn’t win. So why did he take the bait? “There has always been a section of the Georgian leadership who believed the only way to internationalize this problem was to start a fight,” says a senior U.S. official who’s not authorized to speak on the record. “We’ve been telling them all along: Don’t do it!” One senior Saakashvili adviser saw the showdown coming a year ago and told friends he was close to quitting in frustration. “They’re going to start a war in order to lose it,” the aide warned two colleagues, who spoke to NEWSWEEK on condition of anonymity. Nevertheless, Saakashvili denies any intention of dragging Georgia’s allies into war. “I absolutely don’t want Europe to fight for us,” [thus the request to join NATO, notes Barnett] he says. “But Europe faces a choice: to stop [Russian] aggression here to wait for it to claim its next victim.” [Thank you for your opinion, Archduke Ferdinand!]
Still, GOP realists aren’t sure his version of events can be trusted. Some natives of the breakaway regions say Georgian troops targeted civilians—as Moscow repeatedly argued. “What worries me is that Senator McCain did not talk to senior Russian officials,” says [Dmitri] Simes. “I always thought if you’re a combat pilot, you’d want to understand the enemy. But neither he nor his advisers are interested in getting the Russian side of the story.”
Again, isn’t it nice to let Saakashvili declare war between Russia and the West. And why not take our strategic cues from Osama bin Laden too, deciding the “central front” of the Long War is wherever he declares it to be. And why not let Ahmadinejad run our strategic choices throughout the Persian Gulf. Hell, why not let every piss-ant populist collectively determine our entire grand strategy?
I mean, we have to take their propaganda at face value, right?
Otherwise we might get played like fools.
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Comments (5)
Dr. Barnett,
I realize most of your writings revolve around LONG TERM STRATEGY, not present day actions. And that is fine; these things need to be said.
To me as the open minded history student, the long term globalization (soft kill) strategy and affect vs. the short term price of letting places like Georgia “go” – initially sounds reasonable.
But, to me the conservative, father of three, civilian rescue volunteer and just normal person – the idea of letting a fledgling democracy, full of somewhat ignorant people that are acting like children (yes, we can be played – but, Russia is doing that as well), “go” sticks in my craw. I guess I can’t let go because I have a need to define myself in an ongoing exercise of agonizing self-reappraisal.
Georgia may be spit in the puddle when compared to the success of globalization and the overall peace it can bring – but I have to live with myself and stand up as an example for my children. I can’t be devoid of emotion when considering choices or I might as well live ina cave by myself. There has to be balance to maintain a sense of personal honor and integrity or I am not sure what the value of living for the great day of total globalization will mean.
McCain may seem overly conservative and reactionary but I have empathy for where he is coming from. The job of his cabinet is to tell him straight up when he is seeing things through colored specs.
I would note, his comments above seem to be supportive but not promising. Isnt that what he and anyone else would have to say? It sure seems to me the Russians wrote this story line beforehand and no one was able to edit their lines even if they wanted to.
What would Obama do? I have no idea. In fact I am so sure he is non-grounded in principal that I am unsure who he would protect or sell out, including me and my own family. A good leader has to be predictable to a degree and I do not believe he is.
Posted by Robert Langland
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October 8, 2008 9:04 AM
Thank you Tom for highlighting this story. The NYT also had a very good piece talking about how Misha Saakashvili was directing the battle from his cellphone (no wonder the Russians knew where the Georgians would be before they attacked) and how some of the Russian commanders found their own units without radios and had to resort to unsecured cellphones as well. The Der Spiegel story quoted several EU officials bluntly off the record saying that Saakashvili lied to them also makes for interesting reading. The longer perspective we gain on this conflict, the less hysterical and kneejerk anti-Russian the analysis becomes.
Posted by Charles Ganske | October 8, 2008 9:57 AM
It was obvious to me (and all the witnesses) from Day 1 than Georgia "wanted" this fight and so did John McCain. McCain wanted a foreign policy debate going into this election.
"We are all Georgians" (nice try)
Posted by Steve Walsh | October 8, 2008 12:16 PM
Thank you for your good and straight analysis. Saakashvili is a well-disguised dictator who came to power on the wings of a semi-violent revolution and subsequent support of "90% of the votes" in an Iraqi-like election, supressed opposition in all possible ways and staged dirty early second elections when he felt that the Georgian people started to understand who he really was. His decision to fire rockets onto thousands of civilians in South Ossetia will have much more consequences for the Republic of Georgian than we have already seen in the recent weeks. Misha will stick as the worst historical figure in the memories of Georgian people. Thank you, Ross.
Posted by Ross | October 8, 2008 12:32 PM
Mr. Barnett,
Count me in as a Republican realist howling over this action. As I believe Doug Bandow put it on antiwar.com, during the 45 or so years of the cold war, the U.S. didn't give a damn about Georgia or any other country in the Caucuses...Just why in the hell are they so important now?
McCain's "relationship" with 'ol Misha is an absolute betrayal of U.S. security and U.S. interests. Moreover, I would point out that the Senator's quest to add Georgia and Ukraine to NATO is about as provocative and as dangerous a move as I have heard from the neoconservatives.
Emotions, not thinking, is what motivates this man's foreign policy. This is a dangerous modus operandi upon which to govern this Republic.
Posted by Ed Smithe | October 8, 2008 2:02 PM