The president of the Republic of Georgia eats his tie on national television. BBC
$1.1 Billion Giveaway for the Republic of Georgia Announced: "The United States Supports The Recovery, Stability, And Continued Growth Of Georgia's Economy" The White House, Sept. 3, 2008
(Wash. DC) We're not talking about the great state of Georgia, which deserves everything it has coming to it and more. We're talking about the Republic of Georgia, a nation of 4.5 million people wedged between Russia and Turkey.
On Wednesday, September 3, the White House announced a comprehensive aid package valued at $1.1 billion dollars to help the Republic of Georgia recover from the whipping it took after it attacked Russian peace keeping forces in South Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia near the Russian border. That region experienced a major war in 1991 and varying tensions since.
Russian personnel were in Georgia as part of a multi-national peace keeping regime created by the United Nations and endorsed by the European Union in 2006.
We have been warned again and again that seeing the world as an "us versus them" proposition is a fatal error. It's polarizing. It leads to "class warfare." It absolves "us" of the collective responsibility we all have in a democracy. Can't have it, not allowed.
Well, here's some news for "them". It is precisely an "us versus them" world. We live in a nation where tremendous wealth calls the shots without respect or regard for the public will, fails miserably again and again, and then hides behind "collective responsibility." We're supposed to believe that somehow "we all allowed this to happen."
Fantasy encircles the U.S. presidential race. We have an urgent responsibility to address climate change and other environmental problems that imperil the 6.6 billion people on the planet. Anyone hear about that from the candidates? We have a health care crisis in the United States with over 40 million uninsured and premium rates skyrocketing for those with insurance. Any real solutions for that problem? Our economic system is on its last legs and our infrastructure, bridges, etc., crumbles as you read this. Zero real solutions, right, other than solutions that line the pockets of political donor's.
This is a time for intense focus, serious discussions, and open debate on policies and programs. It's the entire human species at risk. Have we heard anything about that in the presidential primaries? Not even close.
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