Luggage with No Handle

Barack Obama, in addition to other things, inherited from George Bush two young but problematic democracies – Georgia and the Ukraine.

Bush and his administration truly loved to occupy themselves with “democracy” and could afford to do so. Obama would also love to amuse himself with something along those lines. For now though, the crisis is forcing him to remember Realpolitik, foreign sovereignties and much more that has been written off by progressive political scientists.

When resources shrink, with them also shrink ambitions and claims – that’s an axiom. It is necessary to drop the ballast, to drive away the freeloaders and conduct any other optimization. The problem is, however, that the reduction of expenses often by itself is fraught with the expenses. This is true in all spheres, including international politics. In the latter, the risks of expenses from the reduction of expenses are especially great. Let’s say that today you displease one of your third-tier allies; you won’t “sign off” for him. Then tomorrow, you need this ally for some kind of pipeline or a military base, but your competitor already picked it up. However, on the other hand, now is not a good time to deal with him or his problems…

All that was said above fits the case of Georgia and Ukraine. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just quietly bent their backs due to the crisis and from time to time mooched for small things (the way the Baltic states do). Last year, Michail Saakashvili orchestrated a war and lost. Now he is barely sitting in his chair and using his last strength to blackmail the West and the United States. For example, “If they overthrow me, it will expose your weakness as well.”

Ukraine will soon hold its next election and usually the local elections very much resemble natural disasters. Ukrainian politics, which is filled with separatists and traitors, would shock even Machiavelli. The Americans, of course, need to be responsible for those whom they didn’t simply tame, but raised and brought up. In the long run, the Georgians and the Ukrainians might still come in handy. It turns out attention needs to be given to both – covering up, mediating and pulling apart. No one has any strong desire to do this; there is a pile of real and more pressing issues that need to be dealt with first.

This is the classic case of “the luggage with no handle.” It’s tough to carry, and you feel bad throwing it out. Moreover, to throw it out is burdensome. Last week, Joseph Biden visited both “young democracies.” The position of the vice president has become decorative once again. The era of Dick Cheney, who everyone openly said ran the country instead of Bush, is over. These visits demonstrated the “luggage” approach. They said, “we need to do something with you; we will do something with you, but only out of necessity.”

By the way, I am almost certain that if gallant grandpa John McCain was in the White House, Saakashvili would be long gone, teaching in some provincial American university (and that’s in the best case). To many Republicans and McCain himself, Georgia is a precious memory. But they are interested in it only objectively, disregarding any crisis. But any more or less long-term serious plan connected with Georgia automatically assumes the elimination of Saakashvili. This loser disappointed everyone and everyone is tired of him. He isn’t even good enough to be an irritant to Russia, since he’s already been defeated.

For Obama, Georgia isn’t exactly Mars, of course, but neither is it his native Hawaii. Therefore, no decisions regarding Saakashvili or the future of his country are being made. Same goes for the future of Ukraine. Biden visited. His presence was noted. They’ll continue to drag this luggage, if they don’t drop it first.