Bruce McQuain sums up quite nicely while all that neocon huffing and puffing over the war in Georgia is just so much hot air:
[T]he question the US has to ask is, “is Georgia worth going to war over?”
The unfortunate answer for Georgians is “no”. Even if the answer were “yes”, militarily we’d be hard pressed to do it.
But going to war with Russia, at any time, is the least desirable option, and Russia knows it. Georgia is in an area of the world that militarily offers Russia short supply lines, and us extended ones. Right now Russia has air supremacy over the area. And it controls the Black sea as well. Not a situation in which we would want to commit our military.
And we must realize that it would probably be only our military were we to decide such an intervention is necessary. None of our “allies” are likely to send any combat troops, even as a source of oil for Europe is threatened.
So while it is heartbreaking to see and hear Georgians wondering out loud where the US is (and expecting reciprocity for their participation in Iraq), they must be realizing by now that other than humanitarian assistance, there is no other aid coming. There is no cavalry riding to their rescue.
What Georgia painfully points out is, superpower or not, there are limits to what the US can do for its allies. While many are criticizing the US response to the crisis and recommending various types of action against Russia, in reality, Russia is going to do what it feels it needs to do and no country is really in a position to stop them.
And this would be true even if our military weren’t already stretched to the breaking point due to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
