"Let 'em Invade Georgia"

America's armchair warrior class is outraged, outraged I say, at Jerry Nadler's comment to the effect that he doesn't give a damn if Russia invades Georgia as long as we get their cooperation on matters more directly germane to American security interests, such as Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons. And I must say that, though he expressed it inartfully (candidly, in other words)I couldn't agree more.

Back in the old days, when the Republicans had a sort of sinister, Strangelovian credibility on national security issues, this might have been applauded as good ol' brutal realpolitik by men like Henry Kissinger and Richard "I don't give a shit about the lira" Nixon. Today our new crusaders regard this as dictator-coddling moral flaccidity. The inarguable fact that Georgia provoked a predictable military response, however disproportionate, by Russia is deemed an irrelevant exercise in spineless moral equivalency. Likewise, the recognition that Georgia lies within what we have historically recognized as Russia's sphere of influence - little more than a Russian province or possession, in fact - is similarly weak-kneed.

Now, it may well be that a President Obama will be just as swaggeringly addicted to foreign adventurism as Daniel Larison suggests. Nonetheless, his plate of foreign affairs dishes is already rather full and it is difficult to see him seeking another helping from the former Soviet Union right away.