BoRev.Net

If the little dust-up between Georgia and Russia is worth anything, it's waiting to hear Bush administration officials try and condemn one country for invading another without chuckling or breaking down and just saying, "Heck, who are WE to tell someone else how to conduct themselves when it comes to war, peace, democracy and human rights?!?"

So far, though, they've soldiered through, making strong statements about how inappropriate it is for Russia to be marching through Georgia with no apparent provocation. Our two favorites:

- "The days of overthrowing leaders by military means in Europe is over," U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad.

Well, Zal is nothing if not a good diplomat. Notice the key use of the terms "military means" and "Europe." Now if one were to use non-military means (say a "civil society coup") in a non-European country (say, ummmm, Venezuela), then overthrowing leaders is perfectly kosher! If Russia wants to square its little foray into Georgia with U.S. policy, maybe they should dress their soldiers in civilian clothes (Colombia can provide both advice and costumes) and roll out some geographers to argue that Georgia isn't really in Europe more than somewhere between the Middle East and Central Asia (Middle Asia? Central East?). And Vladimir and Dmitry, remember the three letters that justify any illegal invasion - W.M.D.

- "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century," President George W. Bush.

Well, here's another opening for Russia. Notice how Bush says it's unacceptable in the 21st century. Anytime before that and you're in the clear! According to the Islamic calender it's currently 1429, so the world's countries have a few centuries of illegal invading and regime changing ahead of them.

Hmmmmm, so maybe the Bushies are being consistent. After all, they invaded a country in the Middle East that is primarily Islamic, right? It might be tougher to catch them with their feet in their mouths than we thought.