That which must not be said

Democratic blogs are erupting with righteous fury over a statement made by John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, suggesting the United States may need to go to war with Russia if it attacks would-be NATO members Georgia or Ukraine.  But before I get to the hypocrisy of the partisan reaction, let’s go to the tape:

When asked if the United States would have to go to war with Russia should Georgia join NATO and Russia invade the country, [Palin] said, “Perhaps so.”


Unfortunately, though the prospect of war with the nuclear-armed Russia may seem horrific, that is nonetheless the widespread — though unstated — view of much of the bipartisan Washington foreign policy establishment. 
Consider that Barack Obama, who once fashioned himself as something of an “anti-war” candidate, in response to the recent Georgia-Russia conflict called for “deepening relations between Georgia and transatlantic institutions, including a Membership Action Plan for NATO”. Translation: if Georgia becomes a NATO member under an Obama administration, the United States would be obligated to militarily aid Georgia should it ever be attacked by Russia.
As the blogger IOZ points out, article 5 of the NATO treaty says just as much:


Of course, the problem liberal bloggers have with Palin’s statement is not that she agrees with the Obama-Biden position, but that she frankly states what that position actually entails. As Ilan Goldenberg writes at the Huffington Post:

Technically, if Georgia and Ukraine were to become part of NATO under Article Five, we would be obligated to protect them and even Obama-Biden support bringing them into NATO. But here’s the thing…

No sane American or European leader would ever ever ever give an answer like that . . . . Barack Obama would never give that answer. Joe Biden would never give that answer. They would say that we don’t discuss those types of hypotheticals. That might sound like a cop out, but think of the Palin alternative and what kind of alarm bells that sets off in Moscow. Prescisely the type of alarm bells that could one day lead to mushroom clouds.

You see? Everyone agrees that Georgia should be allowed into a mutual security agreement that could conceivably lead to a hot war between the United States and Russia — but gosh darn it, you’re not supposed to be so honest!


About Charles Davis

This entry was posted in Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Elections, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin. Bookmark the permalink.

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