<div dir="ltr">For a view of the other side of the story, take a look at Pravda's web page (in English). As with the unspoken censorship of the John Edwards affair by all the major media outlets, we now are getting a neo-Cold War propaganda barrage by all the major media outlets<br>
painting Georgia as the victim, the Russians as "over-reacting"<br>à la Budapest 1956, Prague 1968, etc.--the imperialist Russian<br>bear at it again. The other side--as portrayed on Russian TV<br>(available on U.S. cable TV) and Pravda--is that Georgia started<br>
the conflict by sending its army into South Ossetia and brutalized<br>its civilian population there, many of whom were slaughtered or<br>sought refuge in North Ossetia (across the Russian border). <br>The Russians charge the Georgians with genocide, the Americans<br>
with emboldening the Georgian regime to launch the<br>depredations, and with airlifting 800 Georgian troops from Iraq<br>to the fighting zone in South Ossetia. The U.S. press and GWB<br>talk about the "democratically elected government of Georgia"--<br>
could it be like the "democratically elected" Hamas regime<br>in Gaza? There is nothing intrinsically virtuous about either<br>a "democratically elected" regime *or* the Georgian government--<br>except for their rhetorical usefulness to neo-cons and the<br>
Neanderthals like Kristol, Kondracke, Krauthhammer,<br>Cheney, GWB, and their minions. And, yes, it is another<br>case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle "black."<br>WMDs, 9/11, "Mission Accomplished," Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo<br>
invoking ethical and moral superiority over Putin, the KGB,<br>Gulags, Grozny, and the Red Army? What a hoot!<br><br>O.K., John McSame. You're ready to lead. <br>Where's your Surge to take on the Red Army in Georgia?<br>
Oh, GWB, ahem, how about setting a timetable for the<br>Red Army to get out of Georgia? Or else! As long as it takes.<br>Stay the course....<br><br></div>