Bush Heads Home to Deal with Russia Crisis

President Bush ended his week-long trip to Asia today, leaving the Olympics to return home and deal with an unexpected international crisis. The president used his time in China to conduct a little personal diplomacy with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, condemning Russia's military action in U.S. ally Georgia.

"I've expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn the bombing outside of South Ossetia. I was very firm with Vladimir Putin. Hopefully this will get resolved peacefully."

Bush also made similar points to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev by telephone from China. Vice-President Dick Cheney was a bit more blunt in his remarks, telling Georgia's president that Russia's actions "must not go unanswered," and that the United States considers them, "a threat to Georgia's sovereignty." Asked to clarify the Vice-President's remarks, the White House used a familiar line that perhaps foreshadows more direct U.S. involvement in bringing the fighting under control. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that when Cheney said "must not go unanswered" he was saying that Russia's aggression in the South Ossetia region of Georgia, "must not stand."

The U.S. has already taken military action on Georgia's side in the fighting, flying Georgian troops home from Iraq after their country recalled them to help repel attacks from two separate rebel groups backed by Russia. It is unclear if the White House envisions a wider role for the U.S. military beyond such logistical support. But Georgia was the third largest supplier of foreign troops to Iraq, surpassed only by the U.S. and Britain. Georgia has therefore earned a measure of cooperation from the United States and the international community for its willingness to assist in the war on terror.

Russia may have felt that it could take advantage of the relative lack of focus on international affairs during the Olympics to pick on tiny Georgia, which was one of the first of the former Soviet Republics to break with Moscow after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Georgia has also been busy strengthening its ties to the West, seeking membership in NATO and the European Union. Both are unpardonable sins to Putin, who has actively sought to reestablish a Russian sphere of influence over the former Soviet Bloc. Georgia may hold special significance in this regard as the birthplace of the former Soviet leader Josef Stalin, who first expanded Russian influence over Eastern Europe after World War II. Georgia also serves as a key transit point for Central Asian oil resources, with a critical pipeline crossing its territory to the Black Sea.