Koch's Comments: Georgia, Russia and Kosovo

War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation.

First, the war. Responding to Russian provocations, Georgia and its president, Mikheil Saakashvilli, unwisely began to fight, which was just what Russia was hoping for. Two of Georgia's provinces,  South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are seeking independence and are being encouraged by Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin is incensed that Georgia, a state that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, is not only a good friend of the United States -- it provided 2,500 troops to assist us in Iraq, the largest contingent after Great Britain -- it is also seeking to become part of NATO.

On the opening day of the Olympics, Georgia sent troops to take back the provincial capital of South Ossetia. Big mistake. Russia, using the same pretext that Hitler used when he invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, invaded the province and then Georgia itself. Why is Russia taking this aggressive action? The Russians are furious that the US and Europe allowed Kosovo, formerly a part of Serbia, a Russian ally, to gain independence. Putin is now showing that two can play at that game.

In my view, it was an error to allow Kosovo to separate from Serbia and become independent. I also believe it was a mistake to seek to encircle Russia and cause it to believe the US and NATO are threatening it by trying to co-opt into the Western alliance countries on its borders, e.g., the Baltic states, Poland, the Ukraine and Georgia.

A better course would have been to make Russia a full partner with the US, including urging Russia to become a NATO member. Even today, after the end of the USSR, world peace depends in significant part on good US - Russian relations.

Our partnership with Russia, successor to the USSR, was essential in World War II. Without Russia's sacrifices, we would not have been able to defeat Hitler. In that bloody war, the Soviet Union lost nine million soldiers and millions of civilians in defeating the Nazis, and I believe, suffered 300,000 casualties in the taking of Berlin alone. 

It is imperative that neither candidate, Barack Obama and John McCain, fan the winds of war by proposing the US provide Georgia with military assistance of any kind or worse, threatening Russia in any way. Vice President Cheney's warning to Russia, "that Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," is a mistake which should not be repeated. This war has an enormous potential for spreading.

So we should not bluster or threaten Russia in the current crisis, but rather, convey and convince them of our desire to be their friend and partner, in which they would have an equal role with us. As for Georgia, it cannot win the war that it initiated with Russia and should declare a unilateral ceasefire and have an airing of all of the issues at the United Nations Security Council.