While it may seem horrible that Russia has invaded a sovereign nation, Georgia, perhaps there is a silver lining in this.  For at least a year now, U.S. president George Bush has seemed determined to invade Iran before he left office.  Now that this whole pesky Russia business has come up, George will most likely have to spend his last five months in office focusing on that.  So, as former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter has said, it appears as though Iran, and America for that matter, is off the hook.  If you think the invasion of Iraq has strained the U.S. economy, caused political rancor, and stressed U.S. relations with the rest of the world, an invasion of Iran could make all that look like a day in the park.  A U.S. invasion of Iran would trigger massive terrorist activity around the globe, push us to the brink of world war, and create a highly combustible political situation domestically. (Read riots in the streets.)

The Russians seem determined to exert their muscle and pride once again.  They want to reassert themselves as a legitimate world power, particularly in their own back yard with a member nation of the former Soviet Union where the U.S. is trying to gain a foothold.  Fortunately, for all concerned, Georgia is not a member of NATO at this point.  Otherwise, we would have been required to defend Georgia militarily.

Our “gain” is Europe’s loss, however.  Europe gets much of their oil from Russia.  This valuable commodity could become a very large bargaining chip for the Russians.  Expect them to insist that the U.S. pull their new missile base out of Poland or Europeans could get real cold this winter.

Bush seemed determined to start a new cold war when he placed that missile base next door to Russia, even though he insisted it would be aimed at the Middle East, particularly Iran.  Did Bush have an ulterior motive as well?  A new cold war would ensure that our need for massive amounts of military might would remain intact no matter what happened in the Middle East.  With the possibility of the Iraq occupation winding down, Bush’s big oil and military contractor buddies are wringing their hands with glee that a new cold war is now at hand.  This tension between the U.S. and Russia will surely keep oil prices high and military spending astronomical.

All things considered, I’d rather have peace.  But, until we find a cure for stupidity that’s not going to happen.  Even though Russia has nukes and Iran doesn’t, given the choice between world war and cold war, I’ll take cold war.  A confrontation with Russia is no laughing matter, but, at this point I’ll say, “Thank you, Russia.”