Back when the USSR first fell apart, Bush I was being interviewed. The reporter observed that he didn’t seem very excited by this spectacular victory over the Communist enemy. When the elder Bush mumbled something about just not being a very enthusiastic kind of guy, I thought to myself, geez, what a wet blanket. But now I think he saw Pandora’s Box popping open. And maybe that’s what Putin meant when he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical tragedy. Certainly, the world was a quieter place when Moscow’s boot was planted firmly down on that troublesome corner of the world.

As for Georgia, I am reminded of certain promises made to Poland shortly after the Munich Crisis of ’38.
Maybe this time it would be better for everybody, including the Georgians, if we stiffed them.