This is what makes democracy so great. Choice:
This is what makes democracy so great. Choice:
On Monday, though, Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama found themselves on the same page in dealing with the current crisis, perhaps reflecting the delicacy of the situation. Both said Russia had escalated the dispute beyond its catalyst, the conflict over South Ossetia; both said the United Nations Security Council should call for an end to the violence; both called for putting Georgia on a path toward membership in NATO; and both spoke of deploying an international peacekeeping force in the disputed areas that set off the fighting.
At last, hard-won bipartisan consensus around a set of exquisitely useless proposals. The Security Council? Russia has a veto. Path toward NATO membership? That puts off to tomorrow the question whose answer could not have been more obvious today: “Is Georgia worth a U.S. war?” As for an international peacekeeping force, the Russification measures Saakashvili tried to stop by force are, themselves, primarily non-military: passport distribution, propaganda, administration by Russian government. All of that would continue under the noses of peacekeepers.