Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hysterical Points Memo   [Mark Hemingway]

Here's George Polk Award winning blogger Josh Marshall: 

Wow, going to war with Russia might be necessary if Russia invades another one of the former states of the Soviet Union. So says Sarah Palin. War with Russia over Armenia? If Russia and Georgia go at it again? War between the US and Russia sure would be a positive development for the US. And sort of shows the consequences of taking a freshman governor with no experience in foreign policy and giving her a ten day crash course with Randy Scheunemann and the rest of John McCain's neocon brain trust that got booted from the Bush inner circle for being too nutty.

Late Update: Do we all understand now why former Sen. Chafee (R-RI) called her a "cocky whacko" earlier this week?

Okay, a little context here. In the interview, Palin says that she supports putting Georgia and the Ukraine in NATO (She doesn't say anything about Armenia.) Once they're in NATO and if they're attacked, we might — stress might — have to defend them. But obviously a major part of the reasoning in letting them join NATO is that it might make Russia less likely to attack, no? Lets's go to the tape:

GIBSON: Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?

PALIN: Ukraine, definitely, yes. Yes, and Georgia.

GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.

Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, 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. [Emphasis added]

As much as Marshall would like to construe Palin's sentiment as needlessly bellicose, that's just not the case. Guess who else favors putting the Ukraine and Georgia in NATO? I guess this makes Barack Obama a "cocky whacko" too. But hey, why would Josh Marshall let a little perspective and a few easily checkable facts get in the way of a good ad hominem attack?

UPDATE — Several readers note that Biden is also strongly in favor of Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO: 

The time has come for the trans-Atlantic community to show unity and commitment. The administration should seek and our NATO allies should provide commitments to offer MAPs [Membership Action Plans] to Georgia and Ukraine at the next NATO meeting in December.

09/11 07:02 PMShare