Lanny Davis Joins The Moral Relativists

In geopolitics it is rare to ever have things be black and white. No one is totally right and no one is totally wrong. This complicated dynamic does many things and one of them is spawn an industry of moral relativists. In the conflict between Georgia and Russia, it has spawned all those that proclaim that the conflict between Georgia and Russia has faults on both sides, and thus mans there is moral relativism in both side's actions. There is no doubt that Georgia is not without fault, however drawing moral relativism is not only nonsense but dangerous. Yet, the MSM has now a growing contingent of pundits that are making this claim. We can now add Lanny Davis to this list.

In this context, it is also fair to ask whether the putative Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, was exercising good judgment when he immediately called Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to express his support for Georgia and to declare, apparently referring to all Americans, "We are all Georgians."

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Georgia, not Russia, initiated the first military actions on Aug. 7 by sending (according to the Wall Street Journal ) "much of its army up to the area of Tskhinvali, the capital of its pro-Russian South Ossetian province," including tanks, armored personnel carriers, howitzers and other equipment.

• The State Department's specialist on Georgia, Matthew J. Bryza (again according to the Journal) and many other officials warned Mr. Saakashvili many times over a period of months against military action that might provoke the Russians. But Mr. Saakashvili ignored the advice and "undeterred ... ordered troops to take Tskhinvali, the Ossetian capital, and to knock out the bridge."

• South Ossetians speak a different language from Georgians, have a different culture, have a government headed by a Russian, historically have been close to Russia and have sought separation from Georgia - similar to another "separatist" region of Georgia, Abkhazia.

• When the U.S. last spring recognized Kosovo's secession from Serbia, despite Kosovo having been long recognized as part of Serbia and over the strong objections of Serbia and Russia, Serbia's historic ally - Russian President Vladimir Putin - warned way back then that "Russia will feel entitled to do the same with South Ossetia and Georgia's other breakaway enclave, Abkhazia," according to the New York Times.

Everything that Davis presents is technically true and yet totally irrelevant. Again, whether or not it was wise for Saakashvilli to invade South Ossetia, that was an internal Georgian matter. Russia's only claim in this conflict was the protection of their peace keepers. If that was their only agenda, they would have long been out of the country.

Yes, it's true that we supported the break up of the Baltics. Maybe, we should support the break up of Georgia. That break up must be supported through diplomatic means. It shouldn't be supported by the larger Russia invading Georgia and forcing the break up.

Yes, it's true that South Ossetians speak another language and demand independence. What Davis fails to point out is the history that caused this. It was the then Soviet Union that created this dynamic by forcing some of its own citizens to migrate there and kick out those that were already living there, who at the time spoke the same language as the rest of Georgia, and replacing them with folks of a different ethnicity. More recently, it is Russia that has been stoking the fires of cessation. This idea that Russia is an innocent by standard is nonsense.

There is never a time more important for moral clarity than war. Whatever faults Georgia has made in this war, it is not the time for moral relativism and Lanny Davis should know better.