Putin Fights Back

Mike Whitney

The confrontation between Russia and Georgia looks like a dust-up between neighbors over the arrest of 4 Russian officers accused of spying. In reality, it is a struggle between the Bush administration and Russian President Putin for control of Central Asia. The stakes couldn’t be higher and it appears as though the conflagration could go on for some time to come. The standoff began last week when Georgia President Mikail Saakashvili arrested the 4 officers and charged them with espionage. Putin protested their detention to the UN and demanded their immediate release. He then phoned the White House and issued a terse warning that "any actions taken by third parties (the Bush administration) would be considered encouragement of Georgia’s destructive policy and were unacceptable for peace and dangerous for the peace and stability of the region."...

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