Foreign Policy is an issue that does not lend itself well to sound bytes. Good foreign policy demands a deeper understanding of the region or countries involved, as well as American’s relationships and history with them. Despite having been around Washington for decades, John McCain fundamentally fails at this. His bombastic declaration “We are all Georgians” speaks to this misunderstanding. As John McCain may or may not be aware of, Russia and Georgia share a boarder, and as is the case with many post cold-war fledgling republics, these borders don’t reflect clear cut lines upon which ethnic groups lay on one side or the other. Russia has many citizens who live in Georgia, and who have very close ties with Russia. To assume that Russia engaged in an all out invasion with no provocation is foolish and dangerous. It is equally dangerous to assume that Russia is right in its act of war. The problem is that people like John McCain see the world in black and white, with no eye towards compromise or reason. If it can’t fit into a sound byte, its just not good enough for him.
Taking for example the republicans endlessly flogging, declaring that “China is drilling off our coast”, something repeated by congressmen and congress women, and even Rudi Giuliani himself.  Aside from the complete lack of truth in the statement, the idea is to rile up Americans and get them upset that there is foreign control and influence in our region of the world. While we have a duty to help foster fledgling democracies, we must be pragmatic in how this is done. Arming a country directly in the underbelly of Russia and pronouncing our intentions to having them join NATO can not be perceived as anything other than a very dangerous proposition to the Russians. Joseph Stalin was able to maintain control with paranoid claims that the country was surrounded by enemies and spies out to destroy them. John McCain’s dangerous undisciplined calls for actions against Russia make that paranoid threat very real to the Russians, just as we are afraid of China drilling in our midst. One must also wonder to what end would admitting Georgia into NATO? It would either force us to war with Russia, which is out of the question, or make NATO look like the toothless organization which the UN has become. Sadly, John McCain for all his “experience” doesn’t grasp that there are more solutions to foreign policy than force and the threat of force.
The irony of the situation in Russia is that much of the problem is caused by John McCain and George W. Bush’s shortsighted policies in Washington. His vote authorizing the war in Iraq led to this six year debacle which has crushed out credibility. When John McCain says that “In the 21st Century Nations do not invade one another” this is utterly laughable. Matters are even worse because our military is stretched so far beyond its intention we can not hope to involve ourselves in any more armed conflicts at this point. John McCain’s votes years ago against raising fuel efficiency standards, against limiting pure speculation, and against domestic drilling have all helped the meteoric rise in the rice of oil, and our helpless slavery to it. His lack of foresight is astonishing. The same soaring price of oil has enriched and emboldened a new Russia. His push for domestic drilling is now far little far too late, and his opposition to the drilling and energy compromise prove without a doubt that he would rather use this as a wedge issue to garner votes than find any real solutions. Cutting taxes for oil companies has failed to do anything to encourage them to drill or explore more, as these companies have sacrificed that in order to meet quarterly earnings numbers. These tax breaks are essentially a massive transfer of wealth from American motorists and taxpayers to Exxon shareholders. John McCain has failed domestically, and has helped create a foreign policy disaster. We can not afford to have John McCain to lead our nation.