Georgia: McCain the warmonger

While McCain rattles his sabre and threatens to go to war with a nuclear power, Barack Obama offers a more pragmatic stance.

McCain states that Russia is totally at fault and that we must stand by our ally Georgia.  As I've mentioned previously, it is not clear who is at fault.  Russia says that Georgia attacked its peacekeepers and citizens, while Georgia says that South Ossetia belongs to them.  

It should be noted that corruption permeates McCain's thoughts on this issue.  One of his senior advisors is a lobbyist for Georgia.  This is a clear conflict of interest.  

Obama's response has been more neutral, while still condemning the war.  He is encouraging both sides towards a cease fire, offering our support at negotiating, but stating that Russia needs to back down. 

Whatever your view is on this issue, it should be understood that this is a complex issue, not black and white.  We have two sovereign nations fighting over a contested piece of land.  People of various ethnicities live in this area.  It is not clear who fired the first shot, nor who is committing any wartime crimes.  We cannot run into this situation without understanding more of the facts, and we cannot appear to be completing taking one side over the other, especially since this issue has nothing to do with our national defense.

While McCain looks for any excuse to push the big red button, Obama offers principled diplomacy, which is what we need at this time.  We do not need another Iraq.