by Matthew J. Geiger

Created on: August 20, 2008

The escalation of the dispute over the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has been a nightmare for residences of the Transcaucasian region. Although the Russian invasion is a reaction to Georgia's military action in South Ossetia, which killed Russian peacekeepers and residences who have been extended Russian citizenship, there is good cause to suspect Russia provoked the conflict in order to justify an invasion; however, the immediate concern for the international community is to protect civilians and ensure military action is halted on both sides. Meanwhile, the reactions of the American, Russian, and Georgian leaders take on a frightening resemblance to Cold War relations. Once immediate concerns over violence can be elated, how the West and Russia achieve stability will determine the consequences of these events.

Fortunately, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, acting as the President of the European Union, immediately took a rather impartial tone and began mediating a cease fire agreement. The actions of Sarkozy's leadership have helped save lives as well as halt advances by the Russian military despite reluctance on behalf of the Russians to fully withdraw from Georgia and allowed the global community the opportunity to formulate a reaction capable of discouraging future occurrences. Although the incident does involve European interests as nations like Georgia serve as a buffer zone from Russian influence, it is encouraging to see Europeans taking on a strong position of leadership in an international crisis instead of relying on US leadership. On the other hand, the United States should not be taking a backseat to this crisis, but rather, joining high level discussions between Russia and Georgia as a co-leader along side Europe.

Unfortunately, the US immediately took a rather one-sided approach by throwing undying support behind Georgia and simply cutting of relations with Russia. Although the world has good cause to believe Russia provoked Georgia into this conflict and the West views the magnitude of Russia's response as unjustified, it is difficult to mediate and resolve a conflict when a nation polarizes itself against the stronger of the two advisories. With such actions, America risks alienating Russia as though our partner is still our Cold War advisory. US leadership is important in this crisis, but regrettably, the Bush Administration has not demonstrated it is capable of the diplomatic leadership needed to push beyond the baggage

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