So when France's Sarkozy goes to Russia where they will discuss getting Russia out of Georgian territory (except for the separatist regions that Moscow continues to control), this is kind of funny:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a champion judoka, could soon be flooring France's Nicolas Sarkozy with some of his famous throws after agreeing to pass on some of his black belt skills to the French president.
Judo uses the weight of your opponents attacks against the attacker himself. By throwing and tripping, you use minimal force to redirect your enemies much larger expenditure of force in a way that hurts the attacker.
Which is kind of funny when you consider that Moscow's display of force against Georgia has been used to strengthen all those neighbors who were supposed to be scared into cooperation with Moscow. Georgia strengthens ties with America. Ukraine and Georgia are eager for NATO membership. The Baltic States support Georgia. The Poles agree to American ballistic missile defenses on their soil with the Czechs agreeing to the radar component. China and central Asian ex-Soviet republics won't back annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Foreign investors are worried about their money in Russia. Even Western Europe is dragged along reluctantly to put at least some pressure on Moscow over the crisis in Georgia despite reliance on Russian natural gas and oil.
Russia's exertion against Georgia has been used against Moscow, and Moscow will find their neighbors less pliant than they were prior to the Olympics.
So just who needs lessons?
