"The rape of Georgia:" Implications for Israel

Georgia, Israel and the nature of man -Caroline Glick

[N]one of the myriad international forces deployed along our borders has ever protected us. The fact that instead of protecting Israel, they have served as shields behind which our enemies rebuild their forces and then attack us has made no impression. Instead, our leaders have argued that once we figure out the proper form of appeasement everyone will rise to defend us.

[T]he West's [passive] response to the rape of Georgia should end that delusion. Georgia did almost everything right. [F]or its actions, Georgia, like Israel, was celebrated in the West with platitudes of enduring friendship and empty promises of alliances that were discarded the moment Russia invaded.

Georgia only made one mistake, and for that mistake it will pay an enormous price. As it steadily built alliances, it forgot to build an army.

Israel has an army. It has just forgotten why its survival depends on our willingness to use it.

If we are unwilling to use our military to defeat our enemies, we will lose everything. This is the basic, enduring truth of international affairs that we ignore at our peril.

No matter what we do, it will always be the case. For this is the nature of world affairs.

[Jerusalem Post]


The Russian-Georgian War: Implications for the Middle East -Ariel Cohen

U.S. intelligence-gathering and analysis on the Russian threat to Georgia failed.
So did U.S. military assistance to Georgia.

This is something to remember when looking at recent American intelligence assessments of the Iranian nuclear threat or the unsuccessful training of Palestinian Authority security forces against Hamas.
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)