Let the Oil Wars Begin - Putin and Medvedev Learn From Bush/Cheney

Russian President Dmytri Medvedev and his mentor and former President, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are now learning the tricks of the trade from the White House and the Bush presidency.

"Ethnic cleansing," Medvedev accused Georgia of, as well as attacking Russian citizens in South Ossetia. Does anyone believe this any more than they believed Saddam Hussein aided his arch-enemy Osama Bin Laden with the 9/11 planning and attacks, any more than the world believed Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili fired back the same accusations at Russia: "They are engaged in ethnic cleansing."

Russia said Georgia attached "Russian Citizens," which prompted their necessary response with military force.

Georgia said Russia "Invaded Georgia."

The news reporters on the ground from the BBC, CNN, and the wire services did nothing over the past 3 days to clarify who is the aggressor, who is the defender.

One thing Putin and his toy, Medvedev, learned from the White House is the "new terminology of bullshit" of the 21 st Century. They demonstrated this by calling the Russian Army "The Peacekeepers." Why are they "Peacekeepers?" Because President Medvedev said so. Are they any different from the Red Army that has existed for the past 100 years? No. Can one tell by looking at divisions of Russian Army soldiers and Battalions of Russian Army Tanks which ones are the "Army" and which ones are the "Peacekeepers?" No. Are some of the tanks painted with red crosses or something? No, not according to the footage on the news reports.

Here's what you DO NOT want to see coming down your street - a friendly Russian "Peacekeeper" tank like this one... "Holy shit, Batman!"

Do some of the soldiers wear the powder blue helmets of the UN "Peacekeepers?" No, and even if they did wear rainbow colored helmets, would that make them somehow more peaceful? Not necessarily. So how do we know which ones are the aggressive, attacking, forward-moving army and which ones are the Peacekeepers. We don't. But Medvedev said so. That's kind of like Bush calling the invasion and colonization of Iraq "Operation Iraq Freedom."

So for 3 days the world has watched sound bites on the news of both sides accusing the other side of aggression. To his benefit, Georgian President Saakashvili immediately called for a cease-fire and an end to the killing. 2000 people were reportedly dead. Videotape showed footage of apartment buildings that had holes blown through them. If Russia's "Peacekeepers" are coming to rescue Russian citizens, why are they blowing holes in apartment buildings where civilians live, presumably some of them of Russian heritage?

Here's a nice apartment building in pieces, thanks to the "Russian Peacekeepers" handiwork in Georgia. Maybe they should be called "Piece-keepers":

After a couple of days of this going round and round with no idea who was doing what to whom, I caught a small report on BBC news that described the oil and gas pipelines running from Baku on the Caspian sea through Georgia and to the Black Sea ports in Georgia and Turkey, which are open to export oil and gas to the rest of the world.

1 million barrels of oil per day is what the new oil pipeline will carry. There are also train lines carrying up to 50,000 barrels of oil per day. I don't know how much natural gas is being piped across Georgia everyday. Then, lo and behold, there was another small, "unrelated" story on CNN about an oil pipeline catching fire and burning for 2 days right outside of the Tiblisi, the capital of Georgia. CNN called the story, quote - unquote "unrelated." What does that mean? How do they know it's unrelated? They never said.

Hmm, what an amazing set of coincidences. It's almost like deja vu.

So, all bullshit aside, Russian tanks are rolling into a former Russian republic that has millions of barrels of oil per day flowing through it, a republic that now wishes to leave the Soviet sphere of influence and join NATO, and presumably the European Union. Hmm, amazing coincidence that Georgia would choose this opportune moment in their history to attack ethnic Russians and engage in "ethnic cleansing."

Here's a theory: How about, Putin, who laid claim to the North Pole, yes, the North Pole where Santa Clause lives, is now laying claim to Georgia. As Russia's President, Putin last year claimed that the continental shelf extended from Russia through the super rich oil and mineral fields of the North Pole and therefore, those lands were Russian. This was the 2nd time Russia attempted to claim those lands as their own; even though, they are currently administered by the International Seabed Authority and the UN has repeatedly denied the land belongs to Russia.

Even Santa Clause is not safe from Russian and American "Peacekeeper" forces and their grab for "21st Century" oil. The next war may be fought over Santa Clauses' workshop at the North Pole. This could be devastating to children everywhere, not to mention Toys R Us...

And now, just a year later, Putin, now Prime Minister of Russia is sending "Peacekeepers," albeit Tanks and Soldiers, into one of the richest oil producing and carrying former Soviet states, Georgia. There have been wars fought over these oil fields in Baku and Georgia before. You may remember US General Patton trying to beat Hitler to these oil fields in 1944 in fear that if Germany secured the Baku oil fields, they might have enough fuel to win World War II.

So what have the Russians learned from the White House? Exactly what George W. Bush accused them of:

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

That is exactly what the US is currently doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Iran soon to follow. It's exactly what Reagan did in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It's what other US Presidents did to Cuba, the Philippines, Palestine, Serbia, etc. And why did the US do that "unacceptable in the 21st century" behavior? Oil (or other valuable resources) and control.

Let me see, what is a 1 Million barrel per day oil pipeline worth? Well, if oil is at $130/barrel, that's, let me see, ugh, $130 Million per day. Huh? What is it worth?

One hundred and thirty million dollars. PER DAY. One hundred and thirty million dollars per day. Is that worth Russia risking angry words (and no action) from George W. Bush?

Well, that and much more, was certainly worth it when the Bush/Cheney administration decided to ignore the condemnation of the world community and the UN and invade the sovereign state of Iraq, the owner of the 2nd largest oil deposits in the world behind Saudi Arabia.

So what has Putin and his boy, Medvedev learned? They've learned, world opinion be damned, our strategic and national interests demand access to crude oil, so in we're going.

And thus, the "Oil Wars of the 21st Century" begin. Stand by for World War III.