The Strategic Value of Georgia

Richard Cohen asks a few good questions in his column today. President Bush has been pushing hard for Georgia and the Ukraine's inclusion in an enlarged NATO. Had he succeeded, Russia's invasion would have triggered (or should have triggered) a massive military effort to defend Georgia by NATO forces, something we (and NATO for that matter) are unprepared to do. Some say that Russia never would have invaded; that the threat of NATO counterattack would have caused them to rethink this path. I am unconvinced. Russia's calculations are based on Russian national interests, and I imagine their view on the appetite of NATO nations to get involved in Georgia is not far from mine.

NATO enlargement has always been tricky. Our desire to embrace the nations formerly under the Soviet boot did not necessarily mean we should have entered into treaty arrangements with them. I have no regard for the Russian regime and its thuglike conduct, but I am just as sure that I don't want to be involved in fighting them because Georgia's President couldn't keep his mouth shut.