Putin has overstepped, and for crooked reasons that are obvious.
Russia felt provoked. Russia *was* provoked and they have been provoking right back for months. They should have realized how stupid this Administration is and waited for the next one, like everyone else in the world. Putin's invasion for oil into Georgia is folly.
As for the Grad missiles, Putin has no moral ground to stand on on that issue.
He could easily have won the PR war to which you refer, but instead of showing Bush up, he acted like Bush and gave the American media a Bush effigy to burn.
Putin should have used air power only to take out the artillery (those are artillery rockets), had some "special operations" assets in place to show the Administration how uncomfortable he can make them in Iraq and seen to it that there were some really good-looking, sharp Russian flaks on American TV arguing the Russian case.
He acted like a thug and now he's going to get hammered in the American press.
Why would you expect different? After all, they are just going to call their buddies in the British press. Americans don't do international reporting. We leave that for the British and just copy off them later. If Putin wanted to win this in America, he had to send people to America. Otherwise, the story goes through the Brits and they are not exactly in love with Putin these days.
On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 1:27 PM, Dwayne Monroe <dwayne.monroe at gmail.com> wrote:
> >From time to time, we'll get into an argument about religion. How
> should we feel about it? Can 'The Left' learn from Christian
> organizing? Are we too atheist or not atheist enough? Why did I dream
> of launching a nuclear strike against Heaven as a boy?
>
>
>
> Important questions, all.
>
> But to me, there's a much more interesting, faith-related query: why
> are Americans so willing to believe whatever their media tells them
> about Russia, China, etc?
>
> It seems like only yesterday the Internet smart-set was snarkily
> writing snark about the eager water carrying performed by venerable
> outfits like the NY Times. If the Pentagon claimed Iraq possessed a
> chemical weapon dispensing robot sent backwards in time to prevent the
> American revolution (because they hate freedom!) you can bet there
> would've been a NYT/WSJ, etc editorial insisting that 'as incredible
> as it sounds, these astounding charges bolster the President's call
> for swift and decisive action.'
>
> But now, with the Russia/Georgia conflict occupying context and
> history resistant minds, there's a rush to laugh at counter meme
> accounts (the meme being: brave little country fighting totalitarian
> giant led by new Hitler) and celebrate the 'truth' pouring out of our
> apparently rehabilitated media.
>
> Go to Gawker.com: it's a conventional meme celebration! The
> considerable snark capabilities of that web pub have been turned
> against any and all who challenge whatever CNN et. al. are saying.
>
> And this, while F18s continue to bomb Iraqi and Afghan targets (also
> known as 'people').
>
>
> While listening to NPR (an outlet which uses the intense awfulness of
> just about everything else on the dial as a marketing point) I heard a
> lot about 'Soviet era jets' flying over Georgia but nothing about the
> Grad missiles which got this bloody party started.
>
> And you know what? That's the media's job; they're shills for power.
> To quote Matt Taibb:
>
>
> All journalists are cowards. Hitchens knows it, I know it, everybody
> in this business knows it. If there were any justice at all, every
> last goddamn one of us would be lowered, head-first, into a
> wood-chipper. Over Arizona. Shoot a nice red mist over the whole
> state, make it arable for a year or two. A year's worth of fava beans
> and endive for the children of Bangladesh: I dare anyone in our
> business to say that that wouldn't represent a better use of our
> rotting bodies than the actual fruits of our labor.
>
> [...]
>
> from -
>
> Shoveling Coal for Satan
>
> <http://www.nypress.com/17/26/news&columns/MattTaibbi.cfm>
>
>
>
> So yes, the media -- with exceptions everyone will note -- is terrible
> and should be put to better use bringing delicious beans to the
> world's bean loving children.
>
> You know it, I know it, everybody know it.
>
> And yet, they want to believe.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> .d.
>
>
>
> --
> "Surrender Dorothy!"
>
> W. Witch, Western Div
> ......................
> http://monroelab.net/blog/
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>