I would like to say that the Russians need to be stood up to. Whether or not one likes the fact (and I don’t – I’m British and I utterly hate the fact that we can’t even make a decent contribution in Iraq) the only country that can and might do it is the USA. Tne French – let’s be serious, eh? The Germans – oh, they have a little matter of a constitutional prohibition against sending out any combat troops. The smaller European countries aren’t worth mentioning in this context. The Turks – maybe, but they have enough problems of their own.

And the USA is also struggling in a quagmire (of its own making, but what does that matter?) in Iraq, and can’t match Russian forces if things get somewhat ugly in Georgia after they have sent some in. Note that I didn’t say “really ugly”. “Really ugly” is reserved for the 50-year nightmare. Russia is a backward dump; but it’s a backward dump with 20,000 nuclear weapons. South Ossetia is not worth Armageddon. Georgia isn’t, either.

So there you have it, and it is all our fault. Georgia and possibly other countries are going to be reabsorbed, and it’s all our fault. Why is it all our fault? Because the West is too dependent on oil and uses too much, which makes the price of oil higher, which gives Russia more hard currency and resources to use in its current adventure. And we are still not doing anything about that dependency.

Georgia is going to once again become part of Russia. So, perhaps, are many other countries, and it is all our fault. Because the civilised West has an insatiable thirst for a resource that is almost entirely owned by warlords, religious fanatics and thugs. Think about that as you’re driving your SUV.