Buchanan thinks we should let Putin shred Georgia. Hey, they asked for it, he says. So the death penalty is naturally the appropriate punishment for democratic Georgia's foolish move into South Ossetia that provided the pretext for Russia's long-planned invasion. Although the nature and timing of the invasion should tell you that the Russians would have invaded regardless of what the Georgians did two weeks ago. The Russians would have just lied a little bit more than they already did about what happened that first day.
Buchanan pretends to apply history to this problem but his history is selective and improperly understood. This gem stands out:
As of 1991, the oil of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan belonged to Moscow. Can we not understand why Putin would smolder as avaricious Yankees built pipelines to siphon the oil and gas of the Caspian Basin through breakaway Georgia to the West?
Basically, Buchanan thinks it is natural and right for Russia to have only meek puppet states on its border, and that no state that was once part of the Soviet empire should be free to choose their own friends and allies. The Buchanan Doctrine looks an awful lot like the Brezhnev Doctrine, don't you think?
So when does Buchanan break it to the citizens of Alaska that their land and oil, which once belonged to Russia as of 1867, must be returned to Putin's Russia?
