Caution To The Bear Which Craves A Caucasian Honey Flower Poem by Daniel Partlow

Black is the sea, and red is mountain pass
The flowers bend before the bear of boldness and boasting
Out of hibernation, he longs to break his fast
And ambles past the international border posting.

Is Abkhazia the Modern Day Alsace?
Is Tshinvali the Schleswig-Holstein?
Georgian Honeysuckle is fragrant but alas
Her berries are filled with poisonous xylostein.

...Prowling medved (ev) , let this madness pass.
The mountains are in flames, and Gori is roasting.
Why create another sticky Caucasian morass?
While your first minister is off in China toasting.

Update 1:
Although I wrote this poem based on the interpretation of events in Georgia portrayed in the media, Russia's explanations are not unreasonable (in my mind) . Russia had been in S. Ossetia and Abkhasia at the request and defense of those peoples. Georgia was the initial aggressor (albeit on it's own soil) in the latest conflict. But the fact that over 30,000 refugees have fled North to Russia from S. Ossetia implies that they are fleeing their own government. Russia also claims they will supply ample evidence of Georgia's aggression.

But if that's all, then one would think Russia would not go beyond the Sudetenland - I mean S. Ossetia.

But since there can be no direct military confrontation between Russia and the U.S., it would not seem prudent for Sakashvili to have sparked this conflict. That said, I hope the U.S. and Europe will do all they can diplomatically to restore peace to the Black Sea.

Sakashvili may be the trouble maker Moscow percieves him to be, but he is also the democratically elected president which they can't just remove by forece. I also think that if Russia expects the U.S. to play by the rules (of U.N. Resolutions) then they should play by those same rules.

Indeed, perhaps this points to some larger need for a standard international protocol for minority regions to seceed from their host countries under certain conditions. Somehow I don't see that as being too popular with any of the security councill members.

Update 2:
With the passage of another week and the Russians still in Georgia proper I begin to wonder if they have any intention of living up to their word.

One interesting side effect of this is that it would make it much more awkward for America to execute some kind of unsanctioned attack or invasion of Iran after condemning the Russians for their unsanctioned offensive in Georgia. I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of Russia's reasoning.

But if Russia was thinking through all the tangential effects, I just wonder if they really considered the economic ramafications of the increased country risk premium they must now pay in the capital markets.