Bush's Big Nyet

This is what it's come to. On Monday, President Bush issued a statement very sternly calling on Russian leaders not to recognize the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries.

Within hours, the Russians went ahead and did it anyway.

So on Tuesday, out came another statement, in which Bush very sternly told the Russian leaders they shouldn't have.

What explains Bush's manifest lack of leverage? Russia, fat on oil profits, is clearly intent on reasserting its sphere of influence, and an act of provocation by Georgia gave them just the excuse they were looking for. But there's something almost personal about the way Russia is flouting Bush's warnings. Is it because of all those times Bush poked the bear? Or is it because our military is otherwise occupied? Is it because Bush has squandered America's moral authority? Or is just because he's a lame duck? Maybe it's on account of Bush's demeaning nickname for Vladimir Putin. Take your pick.

Philip P. Pan and Jonathan Finer write in The Washington Post that the Russian decision "amounted to a bold reassertion of Russian power in a region that Moscow considers part of its sphere of influence and a pointed challenge to President Bush, who had warned the Kremlin not to recognize the territories the day before.

"In a written statement, Bush urged Russia to 'reconsider this irresponsible decision,' which he said violated U.N. resolutions as well as the French-brokered cease-fire agreement that ended the fighting between Russia and Georgia. 'Russia's action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations,' he said."

Alex Rodriguez writes in the Chicago Tribune: "The Kremlin's decision Tuesday to recognize the independence of Georgia's two breakaway enclaves deepens what has become the West's worst crisis with Moscow since the end of the Cold War--a crisis that has revealed its lack of leverage over a confident, aggressive Russia."

Paul Richter and Sergei L. Loiko write in the Los Angeles Times: "The Bush administration and its European allies, stung by Russia's formal recognition of two separatist Georgian enclaves, faced new pressure Tuesday to strike back diplomatically and politically against the Kremlin's widening move to assert its power in the Caucasus.

"U.S. officials, who have shunned a military response, did not publicly specify available options. But privately, they cited the possibility of excluding Russia from a number of international institutions, such as the World Trade Organization. They also could try to pressure Moscow through economic measures that pinch the wallets or limit the mobility of Russia's wealthy elite and middle class, including restrictions on travel to the West. . . .

"Charles Kupchan, who was a National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration, said the Russian policy is a miscalculation because it 'strengthens those in both the United States and Europe who believe it's time for the West to take some serious steps to respond to Russian behavior.'"

Meanwhile, Niko Mchedlishvili writes for Reuters: "A U.S. Coast Guard ship carrying aid for victims of Georgia's brief war with Russia arrived on the country's Black Sea coast on Wednesday, but backed down from docking in a Russian-patrolled port.

"The cutter Dallas had been due in Poti, where Russian troops are manning checkpoints since pushing into Georgia proper this month after a war over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Instead, it docked 80 km (50 miles) south in Batumi.