Was Russian/Georgian War McCain's Doing?

If this were a trial, and John McCain and his advisers, including Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign guru who is the founder of Orion Strategies, the lobbying firm for the country of Georgia were the defendants of that trial, for criminal conspiracy,there would be enough circumstantial evidence to convict them.

No one wants to talk about it. Certainly not the government in power at the moment, because McCain represents their last best hope for the continuation of the failed policies of the past eight years. Not the media, because the gutless wonders of the MSM don't even have the guts to say the word liar in the same sentence as McCain or his lying little barker Sarah Palin. So we'll have to examine some very interesting tidbits that happened before, during and after the events that ended up with thousands of people dead and wounded, and around 100,000 people left homeless.

It has been widely reported in the media (because they were told so by the McCain campaign), that Scheunemann stopped lobbying for the country of Georgia in March, 2008. But records show that Scheunemann was still working for Orion as late as the end of May, 2008. Having received close to a million dollars for his work on behalf of the government of Georgia, he was also listed as an agent of a foreign government. Scheunemann has been around the U.S. political scene for a long time now. Having worked as an adviser to Bob Dole during his Presidential run, then advising Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott before going to work for the Mercury Group, the 'change' campaign running now doesn't really like to talk about the fact that in 2000, Scheunemann worked on John McCain's failed campaign.

After that debacle, he went back to lobbying, ending up with a seat at the Project For A New American Century, or PNAC. McCain also doesn't want you to know that 9 days after 9/11, it was Scheunemann and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq formed by Scheunemann that lobbied President Bush for an invasion of Iraq.

Working closely with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Scheunemann lobbied Congress and the Bush administration to further the Georgian desire to become part of both NATO and the European Union. The Senator he worked most closely with was none other than John McCain. During the time that Scheunemann worked for the country of Georgia, ethnic cleansing was taking place, instigated by the government in Tbilisi, who started the national rallying cry of "Georgia For Georgians Only!" Ossetians were pushed into the enclave provinces of North and South Ossetia and basically told they were less than citizens of the country of Georgia. During the entire time of the Bush administration's courting og Georgia and John McCain's sudden concern for the status of Georgia in the E.U. and NATO, persecution of non Georgians became the norm.

2008. The two provinces of Ossetia and Abkhazia have become so hostile to the central government in Tblisi that they claim status of independence, with Russia allowing the free flow of people and goods from the provinces in and out of Russia. Going so far as to issue passports for the residents of the breakaway provinces, the Russians let it be known in no uncertain terms of the consequences of an attempted invasion by the Georgian government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Also warned by the United States State Department and Secretary Rice herself not to provoke the Russians, the situation seemed to be settled for the foreseeable future.

But yet, against all reason and common sense, Georgia invaded Ossetia on August 8th, killing 2,000 civilians by estimates from humanitarian groups. Saying they were merely trying to reclaim territory owned by Georgia, the ethnic cleansing began anew. With shocking speed and ferocity, Russian forces came to the defense of the Ossetian people, moving with breakneck speed to demolish the puny military forces of Georgia, and retaking all of Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Even as the Russian and some European media were reporting on the genocide being committed by the Georgians during their invasion, John McCain swiftly moved to the international spotlight in backing the Georgian actions and condemning Russia. In direct contradiction of the stated policy of the current administration, McCain, needing to gather his right wing base, began his very own foreign policy, issuing dire warnings to the Russians. The resulting flip flop by the Bush administration was stunning in and of itself, but in an election year, with McCain as their Party candidate, they had no choice but to go along. Stepped up missile shield deployment to Poland, and bellicose statements by administration officials have caused the neo-cons wettest dream to come true. A restarting of the Cold War.

With Scheunemann being in constant contact with Georgian President Saakashvili, he arranged a telephone conference with John McCain on April 17th, 2008. At that time Scheunemann was still a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government and a McCain campaign adviser. The conversation between the men is not known, nor would anyone expect McCain to admit it, but it seems to be fairly clear that a green light was given for an invasion, due to the Georgian military's preparations immediately after. Given McCain's constant contact with the Office of the Vice-President before the Georgians invaded, one can assume that Darth Cheney must have given McCain the green light also. Those pipelines transporting oil are much too lucrative to Cheney's Halliburton.

It would not be unprecedented in American politics for a Presidential candidate to author overseas events to suit their needs of the moment. Ronald Reagan convinced the Iranians to hold on to the hostages until after the election by promising them arms. Dwight Eisenhower, in order to placate Joe McCarthy and the far right wing, convinced the Hungarian people to revolt, insinuating that the United States was ready to come to their aid. When the uprising and brutal repression came, the U.S. sat idly by. And now, by John McCAin's own admission, he had other candid conversations with the Georgian President who after the Russians expelled them from Ossetia, made clear his displeasure with John McCain after McCain's bellicose speech, saying he expected action, not words.

That's almost as good as telling the world that for all of the money his government had paid to the lobbyist Scheunemann, and for all of the cash he will rake in from Orion after the election, Saakashvili had expected a military response by the United States after the Russians moved in, and was a little bit angry that he had been taken to the cleaners. That he had done his part to help McCain with the far right of the Republican Party, and now McCain wasn't holding up his end of the bargain. Perhaps the Georgian President was given the impression that a U.S. Senator had the authority to go to war.

We are now in a posture of anger and cold shoulder with the Russians. Our relations have come to a halt, and there are bombers in the air at all times on both sides. Because of this, John McCain has a lot of explaining to do about all of those phone calls to the Georgian president. What did he assure them of? Don't even try to say he was talking about the weather. What was paid lobbyist Scheunemann's role in the entire affair?

And since we know we are not going to get answers to these questions, we had better start thinking about the implications of having all of Bush's people back in the government come January, with McCain as the titular head. The Cold Warriors of the Nixon years that have stuck around just behind the curtain all these years have achieved their goal of destroying Reagan's glasnost and pushed the U.S. into a Cold War posture once more. Do we really wish to have the sneaky back room deals about war and peace to make a comeback in American politics? Do we want a pliable President in the form of an elder statesman who may not make it through one term, only to leave the country in the hands of a political neophyte? One who has already stated that she would start a shooting war with Russia? And do we want in office someone who would use a foreign government's desire to retake parts of their country and turn it into a blood bath for his own political gain?

Some will say that this never happened. But ask yourself about how many positions that John McCain has completely reversed himself on in order to pander to one segment of society. How he lies and distorts the truth about virtually everything, and then come back and read this again. Hopefully it will open your eyes to a larger picture of who this candidate is, who his best buddies are, and what could conceivably happen were he to assume the Oval Office. Forget the lipstick, the bridge to nowhere, and the troopergate story. What we should and must understand is that despite the mantel of maverick and agent of change, John McCain has shown us who he truly is, and that's an agent provocateur.