U.S. Power Vacuum Gives Adversaries Room to Maneuver

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Kremlin's expanding military push into Georgia is fueling concerns within Washington's national-security establishment of a broader challenge to U.S. power globally during President George W. Bush's waning months in office.

From the Caucasus Mountains to the Middle East and South Asia, U.S. diplomats and strategists say historical U.S. adversaries, such as Moscow and Tehran, appear to be exploiting Washington's impending political transition, and the White House's fixation on Iraq, to pursue international actions that might otherwise spark a more robust response from Washington and its allies.

Even U.S. allies, such as Israel and Pakistan, have shown a desire in recent months to pursue foreign policies independent of the U.S., and possibly against Washington's interests.

U.S. officials worry that the strong Russian response in Georgia reflects a broader purpose than simply repelling the Georgian attack on pro-Russian separatists in South Ossetia. Some administration officials fear that the Russians are hoping to quell the pro-Western movement in Georgia and reassert Russian dominance in the Caucasus. And if Georgia returns to Russia's sphere of influence, officials worry, Ukraine could be next.

The situation could expose U.S. and European impotence in protecting the fledgling allies that emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union over the past two decades. The Bush administration pressed hard in the run-up to this year's North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Bucharest to put Georgia and Ukraine on track for NATO membership, but lobbying by then-Russian President Vladimir Putin led some Western European allies -- notably Germany -- to postpone the bids.
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Although Medvedev announced Russia is ending its current military operation against Georgian forces because it has achieved its goals, the Russian president stopped short of saying Russia would withdraw its troops from Georgia. (The Wall Street Journal)