"Who's going to stop us?" Putin said, laughing.

A lot of things have happened in the week since I last posted. The Olympics started, an event that fully deserves its own post. That will have to come later.

More importantly, Russia invaded Georgia, the former Soviet republic (not the state).

The Russians weren't unprovoked. Georgia moved into South Ossetia to reclaim the breakaway province after separatists shelled Georgian forces, and Russia responded to protect the people they consider Russian citizens.

After that, Pandora's Box opened wide, and what came out was a Russian display of force nobody saw coming. The vastly superior Russian army rolled over the Georgians, not only taking back the two breakaway regions (Abkhazia is the other) but also driving deep into Georgia proper.

The rest of the world stood by and watched as a pro-NATO, pro-U.S. government got its ass kicked. That is not good.

But what could be done? Did anyone want to open a full shooting war with Russia? Hell no.

Now, you can believe what you want about protecting Russian citizens, but South Ossetia and Abkhazia are both home to major oil pipelines and other petroleum infrastructure.

Russia's invasion of Georgia served three purposes:

The first was to further consolidate its stranglehold on the oil infrastructure in the Caucasus region, which it uses to supply Europe with a large portion of its petroleum.

The second was to show the other former Soviet republics the penalty for close dealings with NATO and the U.S.

The third was to show the world that Russia means business, and unless you're going to stop them, they're going to do whatever it is they want.

Well, okay then.

When the war started, my first thought was "Is this what it looked like to the rest of the world when we invaded Iraq?" I don't know the answer to that.

Again, say what you like about combating terrorism, but by now we all know that the invasion of Iraq had at least something to do with oil.

So now we have two wars, one short (theirs) and one much longer (ours), that are about oil.

Russia has openly invaded an ally of the U.S. Conversely, the U.S. has effectively surrounded and continuously threatened a Russian ally, Iran.

Remember that line about being doomed to repeat history?

Many, if not all, of the world's largest wars are preceded by tiny ones. World War II started with Germany gobbling up surrounding countries to protect "German citizens" in those areas. World War I started because of a little revolutionary flare up in the Balkans. Stop me when this starts getting familiar.

Or how about this one: The Punic Wars. They were the largest war in history, really three little wars, between Carthage and Rome. They were the western world's two greatest superpowers, and the wars ranged from 264 B.C. to 146 B.C.

They started because both the Carthaginian Empire and the Roman Republic involved themselves on opposite sides of petty land disputes between tribes in Sicily, a strategic concern for both superpowers.

The world's energy crisis is not going away. Neither is Russia. Or China, for that matter. If they're willing to bulldoze half of their largest city just to throw a huge party, what else are they willing to do?

I'm not saying tomorrow, but this will get much bigger than we thought, and soon.

Joba on the DL

Well, I guess I told you so. Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15 day diabled list today. Will he pitch again this season? Nobody knows.

Read about the story here, courtesy of the NY Post.

If Joba is unable to return to the Yankees' rotation, or is severely limited when he returns, I'm not sure how the Yankees will be able to contend for the pennant.

A pithy political cartoon...

I'm feeling particularly political today, so here is a nice little cartoon I found on Boston.com. I think this sums it up nicely.

Joba shoulder update

Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain is going to meet with orthapedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews today after the team saw his MRI results from yesterday. Andrews is the guy you go to when something is wrong.

We're getting closer to that I told you so moment...

Remember that $48 billion I lent you? Um, yeah...

It seems like just about everybody is profiting from the high price of oil these days. That is, everyone except the U.S. Taxpayer.

The following is an excerpt from a New York Times News Service story that appears in today's Boston Globe:

The soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year's end, an American federal oversight agency has concluded in an analysis released yesterday.

The unspent windfall, which covers surpluses from oil sales from 2005 through 2008, appears likely to put an uncomfortable new focus on the approximately $48 billion in American taxpayer money devoted to rebuilding Iraq since the American-led invasion.

The full story can be read here.

I understand the whole "you break it, you buy it" principle is valid here, but that only goes so far.

Not so mad after all...

Yankee Joba Chamberlain left Monday's game with tightness in his pitching shoulder, and New York went on to lose the game on a walk off grand slam off of the newly-acquired Damaso Marte.

The New York Post, in all its sensational glory, does a good job with the story here.

Perhaps it's too early to say I told you so. Perhaps.

We can't handle the truth!

The following is a letter to the editor in the Saturday, August 2 edition of the Boston Globe.

I loved it, even if I don't agree.

JUST THOUGHT I'd update a famous speech from the movie "A Few Good Men" (with apologies to Aaron Sorkin):

We live in a world that has walls, big green walls that need to be guarded by men with gloves. Who's gonna do it? You, Jacoby Ellsbury? You, Jason Bay? Manny Ramírez has a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Tito Francona and curse Red Sox Nation; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what the players in the clubhouse know: that Manny's antics, while tragic, probably saved jobs and that Manny's existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, wins games. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want Manny in front of that wall, you need Manny batting cleanup.

Red Sox management uses words like honor, code, loyalty. They use them as the backbone of a team trying to defend their World Series title. Manny uses them as a punchline. Manny has neither the time nor the inclination to explain himself to a fan base that rises and sleeps hoping for another title and then questions the manner in which he helps provide it. Manny would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you turn on NESN and watch Manny hit another home run. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

SCOTT DAVIDSON
Fitchburg