Bob McCarty Writes

Who will blink first?

The world is waiting to see who will be the first to blink: Uncle Sam or the reawakened Russian Bear?

On one side of the equation, the United States seems to be inching closer and closer toward “pulling the trigger” and launching a direct or indirect (think Israel) attack on Iran. Why? To stop the Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons capability that would likely be used against Israel and/or the West.

On the other side, Russia has a vested interest in seeing Iran develop such a capability. After all, the country sells arms and nuclear reactor components to Iran. Perhaps as a means of distracting the United States and Israel from their concerns about Iran, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin surprised the world by launching a sweeping military invasion of Georgia, its democratic neighbor to the south.

If the United States blinks first by doing nothing to support and defend our Georgian friends, the nation’s reliability as a trustworthy and reliable ally will suffer tremendously. Meanwhile, the matter of dealing with Iran’s goal of becoming a nuclear nation doesn’t go away; therefore, blinking is not an option we can afford to employ.

If Russia blinks first by discontinuing its assault on the Georgian Republic, peace-loving people of the world should count their blessings. Why? Because Putin and his puppet, President Dmitri Medvedev, know several things are in Russia’s favor:

• They know the U.S. military is already operating at near-maximum deployment capability after five years of rigorous duty in places like Iraq and Afghanistan;

• They know Russia have veto power over any action that might be taken by the United Nations Security Council;

• They know NATO has, thusfar, not extended membership to Georgia and, as a result, feels no obligation to come to the young democratic nation’s aid; and
  

• They know — or think they know — President George W. Bush will be reluctant to commit U.S. troops to yet another far-away hot spot and will opt to leave such a decision to his successor.

As I consider our nation’s needs and the fact that Russia’s leaders appear to have few, if any, reasons to blink, I can’t help but conclude that our our best earthly hope as a nation lies in electing the presumptive Republican Party nominee as president of the United States in November. The reason, as I explained in a post a few days ago, can be found in the fact that John McCain understands Vladimir Putin.

Cartoon courtesy: Political Graffiti