RICE CRITICIZES RUSSIA FOR DEFENDING RUSSIANS IN SOUTH OSSETIA

Why must the Bush administration, and specifically Condoleeza Rice, continually criticize Russia for defending Russian nationals living in South Ossetia?

Today Rice pompously warned Russia that it faces isolation from the West.

The BBC reports on Rice's speech. Even though for the first time (that I know) that Rice acknowledged that Georgia and its president Mikheil Saakashvili started the conflict, Rice went on to blame Russia for its actions.

""Russia's leaders violated Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and launched a full-scale invasion across an internationally recognised border," she said, adding that Russia had also violated the terms of a ceasefire negotiated by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ms Rice said it had been "deeply disconcerting" that Russia had tried to "dismember" Georgia by recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and argued that Russia's actions were part of what she described as a "worsening pattern of behaviour". "

What would the U.S. do if Mexico attacked Tijuana with missiles and artillery and aimed them at civilians, mainly American citizens, who happened to be living there? It would be hard to believe that Bush would not send in several brigades of marines to protect the American ex-patriates from Mexican aggression against a defenseless civilian population.

So why all the condemnation of Russia for doing the exact same thing in South Ossetia after Saakashvili ordered the bombing of Russian civilians living in Tskhinvali, the capital of Ossetia?

Rice and Bush are hypocrites. They know that allowing Georgia to join NATO is a direct threat to Georgia's neighbor, Russia. Suppose Georgia was already a NATO member, other NATO members would have been obligated to join the fighting and fight the Russians. This is insanity and totally irrational.

The world must stop Georgia from becoming a member of NATO and must stop Bush and Rice and Cheney from starting a war with Russia in the last few months of their term.