A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

August 10, 2008-War in Georgia Against the Backdrop of the Olympics

Israelis were riveted, along with the rest of the world, to the twin images of the Olympics and the sudden, unexpected war in Georgia. Israel was happy with the results its athletes achieved on the first day; the images from Georgia, however, gives Israelis and (should give) the world much to ponder.

Tanks are suddenly rolling across the borders of Europe, and the images harkens back almost 70 hears to the time before world war II, when Germany was talking about the state of ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia and other parts of Europe. The world seems worried, but unable to do anything. Russia seems determined to flex its muscles, in the best circumstances. It is possible Russia could be intent on trying to recreate the old Soviet Empire. It was one thing to stop Saddam Hussein with his third rate army when he attacked Kuwait. However, stopping Russia, with its nuclear weapons is something else all together. The implications for Israel are not good. A fully resurgent Russia is not in Israel's interest. In addition, what appears to be such a complete violation of the fundamentals of international law, the invasion of one country by another, is a dangerous development for the world. I must add that the initial reaction of Senator Barak Obama was disconcerting. He called on both sides to show restraint– the attacker and the defender. On the Sunday talk shows, Obama's spokesman responded to questions about the Russian attack by pointing to the fact that one of McCain's aids lobbied on behalf of Georgia.

This weekend I finished reading Benny Morris' new book, entitled: 1948, The First Arab-Israeli conflict. I found the book profoundly disturbing, mostly because Morris shows how deep seated and religiously based Arab animosity towards Israel was even back in 1948- Read my full review here