Georgia-Another Victim of the Mideast "Peace" talks

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's real claim to fame is being a "Soviet Union expert" it was her field of expertise. Yet the 'surprise' Russian invasion of Georgia happened on her watch. As we try to finagle our way out of protecting our ally in Georgia (there is no way we go to war with Russia over Georgia). This ongoing action cause a loss of prestige for America, through out the world. Especially when you see scenes like this:

While President Bush, out to lunch in China, watches swimming, basketball & baseball in Beijing, here is what one Georgian farmer told a British reporter: "Why won't America and NATO help us? If they won't help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?"

John C. Wohlstetter from the Center of Security Policy suggests that one of the reasons the State Department was blind-sided by the Russian incursion into Georgia is that they are waisting there time on fruitless efforts to try to force peace in the Middle East:

The Perils of Inattention. Obsessive focus on intractable problems that there is little chance of solving and of marginal strategic value diverts attention from addressing more important, more soluble problems. Every minute that senior leaders spend on Problem A is time not available for Problems B through Z.

Wasting vast efforts and time on marginal problems leaves less space--much-needed--to work on central issues. Every nanosecond Secretary of State Rice has spent from the late 2006 Annapolis conference to date, on trying to broker a Palestinian accord has been wasted. Palestinian rockets after Israel withdrew from Gaza three years ago, and the Hamas electoral win in early 2006 gave America a perfect pretext for leaving the Palestinians to fend for themselves vis-a-vis Israel, and telling our European allies that the Palestinians forfeited any right to special attention. We could have confined our efforts to mid-level diplomacy at most, plus the occasional obligatory public pieties about "a just and lasting peace" that are required by Mideast politics, and otherwise not committed so much time and prestige to an accord not only chimerical in prospect, but of far less significance that the situations with Russia arising out of Ukraine and Georgia. Our gracious and charming Secretary of State, a Russia specialist, should have known this and focused her attention accordingly. Instead we risk all sorts of conflict with Russia. Suppose Georgia pushes too far, and Russia occupies Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, and annexes Georgia by force? Will we go to war? Not if we can avoid it. But if Russia annexes Georgia, America would suffer a huge loss of prestige. Read the entire article here:Russia vs. Georgia: Four painful lessons

There you have it Georgia becomes another causality of a state department the believes its first priority is appeasing Palestinian Terrorists.