Frank Schaeffer goes nuts on Orthodox-on-Orthodox violence

I'd never read anything by Frank Schaeffer until today. I don't think I'll bother reading him again. This whole article is just nuts. It's got the hallmarks I've seen elsewhere of a convert (political, religious, or in this case, both) who loses his rationality when discussing the group he left.

Here, he's writing about the Russian invasion of Georgia and essentially defending Russia (at least excusing them). I don't know if I want to bother refuting too many of the...um, "points" he tries to make, because he isn't very consistent and doesn't seem to have thought really hard about it.

Sigh. OK, I just need to say a couple or three things. He seems driven in all of his arguments here by a desire for pan-Orthodox dignity, centered on Russia. If the US (and the West, generally) make contacts with former Soviet republics and satellites, helping their struggling democracies and extending NATO membership, he makes that out as us "encircling" the Orthodox world. That implies that we're threatening the Orthodox world. Somehow, this excuses Russian threats against fellow Orthodox countries like the Ukraine and Moldova, and a flat-out invasion of Orthodox Georgia. Yet when we aid Orthodox countries like Greece, Romania (both NATO members), the Ukraine, and Georgia (both being considered for NATO membership), that's a "threat" to the Orthodox world. The only Orthodox country we've attacked this whole time has been Serbia, and that's only because of the deliberate attacking of civilians and ethnic cleansing.

Does the non-Russian-allied Orthodox world see themselves as under attack from the West? Not from what I can tell. Rather, they see themselves as under attack from Russia. Where would they get that idea? Mostly from Russia attacking them. (Or threatening to attack them.) So is the rest of the Orthodox world as disdainful as he towards America and Bush? Again, not from what I can tell. In fact, these same sorts of places tend to be where Bush is quite popular (Romania, Georgia, and the Ukraine, in particular--not so much in Greece, though). My Orthodox in-laws in Romania tell us how popular Bush and America are there.

Somehow, Schaeffer spins this all into a web of anti-Orthodox bigotry on the part of the West, and he throws a bit of snide remarks against President Bush's being an American Protestant. I don't buy into much psychoanalysis, but "projection," anyone?

What's funniest is that this is all supposed to explain why Russia invaded Georgia, a fellow Orthodox country. I'm tempted to do a take-off on that joke from some late '50s liberal comedian whose name I can't remember: "Every time America attacks an Orthodox country, Russia decides to retaliate by attacking an Orthodox country."

How many South Ossetian civilians dead?

2,100 (Russian claims) or 40 (recorded in Tskhinvali's main hospital)? You think the Russkies might have been...exaggerating to justify their little invasion?

'Way to go, big 'U'!

(I felt like paraphrasing a "Hunt for Red October" quote just now.) The Ukraine has just told Russia that the Russkies have to inform the Ukraine of all ship movements out of the Russian-leased, Ukrainian-owned base of Sevastopol...or else. Russians must get permission from Ukrainian authorities at least 24 hours in advance of any ship movements, or the Ukraine can expel the Russian ship from its port.

You think Russia over-played its hand in Georgia? Hmm?

Cold-War-style paranoia in Moscow

Dick Cheney got Russia to invade Georgia to keep Obama from getting elected! I thought Karl Rove did it, actually.

The Russians are convinced Cheney made them invade?! That's like the lefties here thinking Rove faked the Texas Air Nat'l Guard memos and convinced Dan Rather to run with them.

What we should do for Georgia

John McCormack on Max Boot on the Russo-Georgian War. I especially think that there should be absolutely no Russian "peacekeepers" within South Ossetia under any circumstances. They're a party to the war, not neutral peacekeepers. And I'd love to see some of those shoulder-fired US "Javelin" anti-tank rockets knocking out the Russian columns advancing into Georgia...

Is Russia really losing, in the end?

Classical values thinks so. I'm not so encouraged, but I'd like for it to be true.

Russian tanks moving towards Tbilisi

The BBC News is reporting a column of Russian tanks moving on the road from Gori towards Tbilisi. They can't say where they're intending to wind up. There's a cease-fire in place which was made on the Russian terms, and the Russians say their military operations are over. But this is the Russians we're talking about. They were also bulldozing a Georgian military base recently.

One BBC reporter suggested that although the Georgian artillery is well south of the disputed zone, they're within firing range of it, so the Russians might simply be going down to clear them out. Well, that would be the Russian argument.

The most despicable thing of this whole war is the Russian attempt to get rid of Georgian president Saakashvili. They've absolutely refused to deal with him personally, and in terms that shock me to hear. What exactly do they have against him? They're making a claim of war crimes, but come on...this sounds simply like made-up propaganda, which the Russians are experts at. For their part, the Georgians have made the same accusation in return, which is smart, whether or not it's true.

Saakashvili addresses crowd of 50,000 in Tbilisi

I imagine this is the rally that was called for 3:00 Georgia time today. The BBC reports about 50,000 people in the square in Tbilisi. Lots of Georgian flags in evidence. Saakashvili seems to be a pretty good orator, although they're not translating his speech, so I'm just going on body language. The Georgian flag, incidentally, is a really pretty one.