Published: August 19, 2008 07:47 pm         

THE WAY I SEE IT: Evil never dies gracefully

Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unlikely sources. Just Friday morning, I was innocently going about my usual routine when inspiration suddenly raised its ugly head. I was listening to Tennessee's self-proclaimed leading radio talk show host. His guest was an editor from a prominent Tennessee newspaper. The moment I heard them say that Russian's latest invasion of Georgia, an ally of America in the war in Afghanistan, was "all about oil," I had the inspiration for this column.

If those two political analysts are right, then maybe the reason why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor was to satisfy their need for pineapple juice. Maybe they invaded China because of the demand for Oolong tea. Hitler invaded France for the red wine and Poland for the plum brandy they call Slivovits. Having satisfied that craze, Germany launched the world's first airborne assault against Crete to capture their olive oil. To be sure, oil figures prominently into the Russian invasion, but only as a side issue. The primary goal is obviously to restore the former Soviet Union to a position of power.

Let's start with Russian Premier Vladimir Putin, a former leader of the KGB. That is really an oxymoron because there is no such thing as an "ex" KGB, just as there is no such thing as an "ex" U.S. Marine. At least there never was, until John Murtha came along. The Russian president-turned-premier has never been shy about, nor apologized for, his clearly stated goals. He has resorted to the use of poisons, abductions, military actions and supplying the sworn enemies of the Free World with the means to build weapons of mass destruction. He has threatened America with military over flights of the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean with his antiquated Russian Bear bomber. He told Ukraine and other former USSR members that joining NATO would be a hostile act. He told Poland that if they installed a strictly defensive missile system to ward off the Russian threat to their country, Poland would be the target for a nuclear attack.

After Georgia, Putin would have only a leisurely stroll through Armenia and Azerbaidzhan to link up with Iran, one of the despotic states being supplied by Russia. Neither of those helpless little countries could resist, even if they wanted to. In so doing, Putin could threaten to cut off the gas and oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe, effectively negating their response to his aggression. In a very subtle way, he would be emasculating NATO while renewing Russia's former hold on Eastern Europe. In short order, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would be told "Return to the yoke of Communist Russia or die." Stalin lives again, but in Putin.

Some might ask, after the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, how could anyone possibly think that Russia could be on the rise again? The same question was asked by Neville Chamberlain in 1935 after Germany had been thoroughly defeated in 1918. After all, wasn't World War I the war to end all wars? How could Saddam Hussein have been supporting terrorism and ignoring 15 UN resolutions in 2004 when he was so thoroughly defeated by coalition forces in 1991? The answer is quite simple. That is the nature of tyranny. It has always been that way.

Robert Evans Burnette is a Crossville Chronicle columnist. His column appears on Wednesdays.