Georgia: Voices Without Votes

An earlier post on the position of U.S. presidential candidates on the military conflict between Georgia and Russia has now been cross-posted on Voices Without Votes, an online citizen media project from Global Voices Online and Reuters. Although the post details the opinions of many in the United States it is particularly relevant to the 4 November presidential election and I plan to update it with additional opinion as of when it appears elsewhere.

With the massive deployment of Russian forces in Georgia, the small South Caucasus country’s conflict with Moscow over the breakaway region of South Ossetia has obvious political ramifications thousands of miles away in the United States where presidential elections will be held on 4 November. With some alleging that the crisis reflects a struggle between the West and Russia, where the U.S. Presidential candidates stand on the matter is fast becoming a significant campaign issue.

While Republican candidate John McCain takes a firm anti-Russian stand, the Democratic Party’s Barack Obama is more neutral on the matter and calls for restraint from both Georgia and Russia. At the heart of the matter is the perpetual debate over foreign policy and Western energy interests in the region as well as U.S. military support for Georgia.

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Making the question a political hot potato is the question of U.S. foreign policy. The Washington Note clearly blames the U.S. for the events in motion today.

The full post is available on Voices Without Votes.