Hudson Institute scholar & Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty executive editor John O'Sullivan calls the Georgia War a novel, "post-modern war": the view held by "global legalists" that soft power alone can cause bad actors to conform to rules, without hard power being used, has been exposed as fantasy. Also noted by O'Sullivan: the silence of the legalists as to Moscow's violation of international norms. Well worth a read. The New York Times reports that European leaders held another soft-power only summit. More talk, but as the Wall Street Journal editors note acerbically, French President Nicholas Sarkozy ruled out force or sanctions, leaving Moscow trying hard, one suspects, not to laugh out loud.
O'Sullivan sketches a 3 AM phone call scenario in which Moscow invades Ukraine, and President Obama readies a UN Security Council Resolution while our NATO allies wilt. Scary, but could happen. Which is why Big Mac needs to win this one. This comes as the Sydney Morning Herald reports on rising tensions between Ukraine's two top leaders, enmeshed in bitter rivalry and sharply disagreeing over Moscow's Georgia thrust.
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