They had it coming

Maybe from John McCain, Republican heir apparent, whose top foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann, also just happens to be a highly paid lobbyist for the Georgian government. Whoops 8212; correction! Scheunemann used to be a highly paid lobbyist for Georgia. The McCain campaign says Scheunemann hasn8217;t taken a dime from the Georgians since May 15. Which is lucky for the Georgians, who are going to need all the spare cash they can get to rebuild all the stuff the Russians just bombed.

According to the Washington Post, the relationship between Scheunemann and Georgia used to be very cosy. And what did Georgia get in return? Well, no troops, that8217;s for sure. But they got Scheunemann8217;s expensive pledge to garner US support for Georgia8217;s admission to NATO and for its claims to South Ossetia, and his commitment to use his ties to politicians such as McCain to advance Georgia8217;s causes. And as recently as mid-April, Scheunemann was simultaneously taking money from Georgia and actively preparing McCain for supportive calls with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Is it any wonder that Saakashvili concluded that he had the backing of the US Republican power structure when it came to South Ossetia? But Scheunemann and McCain aren8217;t the only ones who irresponsibly encouraged the Georgians to think that baiting the Russians was going to work out for them.

President Bush shares the blame. Once he stopped swooning over the soulfulness of 8220;Vladimir8217;s8221; baby blues, Bush seemed intent on showing Putin and other Russian leaders that he no longer gave a damn. The Bush administration supported the 8220;colour revolutions8221; in Russia8217;s backyard and denounced anti-democratic crackdowns in Russia 8212; while making excuses for 8220;friendly8221; authoritarian regimes elsewhere. The administration also virtually shut down extensive multi-issue dialogues with Russia that had been maintained by previous administrations.

The administration also aggressively pushed policies that couldn8217;t have been better designed to enrage the Russians. At the April NATO summit in Romania, Bush urged a fast track to NATO membership for Georgia. The US also insisted this summer on the deployment of an almost certainly useless missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, virtually on Moscow8217;s doorstep. Meanwhile, the administration singled out Georgia for the 8220;Our Best Buddy in the Caucasus8221; award. The US has supported the development of gas and oil pipelines running through Georgia that will challenge Russia8217;s regional economic hegemony, and provided the fledgling Georgian republic generous economic and military aid, including an overhaul of its forces. In return, Georgia sent 2,000 troops to Iraq, and the administration pretended to be deaf when Georgian politicians crowed that their newly improved military would be perfect for teaching those pesky South Ossetian separatists a lesson.

But it8217;s all gone disastrously wrong for our best buddies, and we8217;re sitting on the sidelines, offering empty reassurances to the Georgians and empty threats to the Russians. Moscow will stop pummelling Georgia when it decides the Georgians have truly been punished enough. And this being the real world, punishment will rain down on the pawns 8212; but those who egged them on will, of course, face no punishment at all.