Putin Esaclates War of Words over Georgia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, stung by sharp criticism from the White House over its invasion of U.S. ally Georgia, reacted angrily today to the United States' military assistance to the former Soviet republic. The U.S. military transported some 2,000 Georgian troops from their bases in Iraq back to Georgia to assist in the fighting there. Putin labeled that action unhelpful and accused the United States of hypocrisy in its condemnation of Russia's actions.

"It's a pity that some of our partners instead of helping are in fact trying to get in the way. I mean among other things the United States airlifting Georgia's military contingent from Iraq effectively into the conflict zone.

The scale of their cynicism causes surprise. It's the ability to cast white as black and black as white which is surprising, the ability to cast the aggressor as the victim and blame the victims for the consequences.

Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shiite villages. And the incumbent Georgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ran elderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilian alive in their sheds - these leaders must be taken under protection."

Putin's cavalier dismissal of Saddam Hussein's crimes as "destroying several Shiite villages" perhaps sheds light on his trustworthiness as an international partner for peace and security. Russia's claims of atrocities against civilians committed by Georgian troops have not been verified. But it is abundantly clear that Georgian officials would have had to work very hard to eclipse Saddam Hussein in the annals of brutality.

Putin is a former Soviet Intelligence chief and is viewed as wistful for a return to the Cold War order of East versus West. The Russian military action in Georgia, calculated to take place at a time when the world's attention is focused on the Olympics, is threatening to bring back the old ways very quickly. A large majority of Americans thinks that the U.S. should stay out of the fighting in Central Asia. But that may already be besides the point, as the U.S. military's transport of the Georgian troops, clearly the right thing to do given Georgia's sizable support of U.S. operations in Iraq, has already gotten America involved. It is unlikely that the United States will get further involved militarily in the fighting, but the fast escalating events in Georgia will likely change the nature of U.S.-Russian relations for as long as Vladimir Putin is in control of Russian politics.