Here We Go Again...

After two glorious weeks of watching the Olympics, we are now back to the real, ugly world. (Not that there weren't ugly incidents at the Olympics--the Cuban taekwondo jin kicking the ref in the face comes right to mind--but at least there were more good stories than bad.) Bush and Cheney are threatening Russia not to recognize the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia when it was just last year when the West decided to recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia. Bush says, "Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's" and conveniently disregards Serbia. I have no love for the Serbian leadership, and neither did the Kosovars. But if we're going to start recognizing that every disgruntled group of people can claim independence, then we're going to have allow for the possibility of Native Americans having their own country within America's borders. We have to allow for Quebec to become their own nation. And the Basques in Spain. And the Taiwanese. There is just no consistency here--the only thing that matters is muscle, and that is exactly what Russia is flexing at the moment. If I were Russian, I would tell America to f*ck off and stop being so hypocritical. Until there is some consistency in America's foreign policy (when is November arriving?), Russia can do whatever it wants.