Oops, apocalypse

"Accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.... The monitors have also said they were unable to verify that ethnic Georgian villages were under heavy bombardment that evening, calling to question one of Mr. Saakashvili’s main justifications for the attack." — New York Times

And yet Sarah Palin claimed we might have to go to war with Russia because "that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help." Not a single clause of that sentence is devoid of untruth: not only is Georgia is not a NATO ally but now it transpires it was launching rocket attacks on Russian civilians. Russia was not "unprovoked."

How agreeable it is to have avoided another unnecessary war! It really bucks you up. Puts a spring in your step. Fills your heart with gratitude this woman has been tagged and released back into the wild. Everyone's talking about the need for Obama to manage expectations so as to avoid the inevitable disappointment that will beset his first term, but really the bar is set pretty low. All he had to do is get up in the morning, not raise my taxes and fail to go to war with Russia and I will be happy as a clam.