Bush, Sending Aid, Demands That Moscow Withdraw

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Joao Silva for The New York Times

Russian soldiers traveled near the village of Orjosani, Georgia. More Photos »

This has the effect of more deeply involving the US in the ongoing war in Georgia. It is, to say the least, risky. It also fairly much guarantees that where the US wishes Russia's cooperation, primarily with Iran, that is now not going to happen. It is clearly a calculated move, calling Russia's bluff.

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Convoys of Troops and Refugees

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The Question is: Why?

Just why did Russia unleash its mighty military machine on tiny Georgia? A geopolitical quiz.

Al-Jazeera has it this way: The heavy fighting between Russian and Georgian forces appears to have ended after the two sides agreed to an EU-backed ceasefire plan.

Now, Russia has about 140 million people, and the arsenal of a former, and nascent, super-power. Georgia has about 4.6 million people. [Dig: these are numbers from the CIA World fact Book, which likely means Big Brother is watching; do be careful.]

So, a former super-power wanting to assert its virility, up against a pup with less than 5 million people -- this is not a pissing contest between Georgia and Russia, but between Russia and and the US, and one has To hope that Condie Rice and W Bush got enough cojones to match up against Vlad Putin (not a bet I'd be glad to make).

Russia Widens Attacks on Georgia

Ain't getting any better.

Russia, Georgia Clash Over Breakaway Province

One of W Bush's bold moves is being challenged: he has called Georgia a beacon of freedom, and it, in turn, has sought to join NATO.

Sandwiched between Russia and Georgia, South Ossetia has a population of just 70,000. The pro-Russian region first sought to break from Georgia in the early 1990s in the tumult that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

What will Bush do in response?

Russia and U.S. ally Georgia were on the brink of war Friday after Moscow sent troops and tanks into Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, in a dangerous escalation of a long-simmering conflict in the strategically important Caucasus.

Georgia is right under Russia's southern border; to encourage it to join NATO is absurd, part of the Bush-Cheney arrogance.

In Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, President Mikhail Saakashvili said he was preparing to declare marshal law and that his country was under attack. "We have Russian tanks moving in," he told national television, ordering troops to mobilize. In a series of international TV interviews, he said the conflict was a struggle between the Western values he espouses and Russian aggression.

Marshal law? Is that General Marshal, or another marshal? Oy.

Angola? Isn't that a cat?

This was a precious one, and I can't let it go by. Libraries can be interesting places to observe human nature.

A woman came in Wednesday afternoon, about 40, nicely-enough dressed. She needed some research material for Angola during the Cold War.

An hour or so earlier a mother and her son had been at the Reference Desk asking the same question. I found three books that pertained to the topic; two were out. So I gave the youngster the call number of the third, and suggested he also look at a Kissinger biography.

So when the second mother asked about Angola during the Cold War, I told her all the books we had were out, as I had earlier helped the other young man. He had told me, I said to her, that he was working with three others in a team; was her son part of that team? She had no idea.

I suggested Reference books, and she agreed she could copy the relevant pages. I found a Cold War encyclopedia, and gave it to her. I also suggested she look at a Kissinger biography, or perhaps a Nixon biography, where she might find additional material. I said I remembered that Nixon and Kissinger dealt with Angola.

She said I remember the Cold War, but Angola? No. She added she had no idea where Angola is. I gently said West Africa, and left it at that.

So here she was, doing her son's research, and she had no idea where Angola is. Oy vay.