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Last update - 09:40 14/08/2008 The future belongs to Russia and China By Ari Shavit Tags: United States, Russia, China China. The 2008 Beijing Games this week joined the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and the 1980 Moscow Olympics. These four Olympiads were overshadowed by Russian attacks on neighboring countries that Moscow deemed overly independent. The timing of the attacks on Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan and Georgia was not coincidental: In the United States, Olympic years are also election years. And when Uncle Sam is heading for the ballot box, he is weak, and cannot prevent a Russian bear from devouring. For the fourth time in half a century, the Russian bear emerged from Olympic hibernation and feasted to his heart's content. Russia. The Georgians liken the Russians to the Nazis. They believe Ossetia and Abkhazia of 2008 resemble the Sudetenland of 1938. As far as they are concerned, Vladimir Putin is Hitler, ripping chunks out of a neighboring democracy to destabilize and vanquish it. The Georgians exaggerate, but under Putin's leadership, Russia is turning into a new Germany. Not the Germany of the Fuhrer and the swastika, but the Germany of the Kaiser and Bismarck. Like Germany in its day, Russia is a power in the process of getting renewed, reunited and rich, seeking to restore its lost hegemony. Advertisement Like Germany in the past, Russia in the present is a world power whose size, location and nationalism threaten its surroundings. Since Russia has friendly ethnic minorities in small neighboring countries - its potential for expansion and friction is high. Therefore, just as Germany destabilized the old European order even before Hitler, Russia is destabilizing the new European order. Anyone who thought that the West's most pressing issue is Islam should think again. Radical Islam poses a long-term threat, but the new Russia is a problem now. America. At the Beijing stadium this week, George Bush came off as the most wretched American president in history. A president who needlessly provoked the Russians, but ultimately did not withstand them. A president who brandished the flag of human rights and democracy, but ultimately kowtowed to a world power that tramples human rights - China - and abandoned the brave little democracy of Georgia. The Bush era came to an end this week, but with it ended two decades of America being the sole superpower. The Pax Americana that maintained global stability for a generation has run its course. The repercussions will be felt clearly, first and foremost in the Middle East. Georgia. President Mikheil Saakashvili did a foolish thing. Like a hot-headed Israeli, he did not respond to the deliberate attack on his country's sovereignty by means of a diplomatic campaign, but rather militarily. The political echelon gave its troops an impossible mission, but Saakashvili's mistake must not be allowed to cloud the big picture. Georgia is still the most promising country in a dangerous Central Asian area of tremendous strategic importance. Its democratic, progressive, and non-corrupt nature ought to make it a darling of the West. One should therefore refrain from creating a false moral equivalency between Moscow and Tbilisi. If Barack Obama really wants to be a new Kennedy, he cannot vacation in Hawaii now. He must do the Kennedy thing - fly to Gori and deliver the speech of his life: I am a Georgian. Finland. There was a good bit of irony in the fact that one of the two mediators who tried to bring about a cease-fire in the Caucasus was the Finnish foreign minister. During the Cold War, Finland was free but a Soviet satellite. If the Georgian crisis comes to one potential end, the future is Finland: more and more European and Asian countries that accept Russia's might. The Europeans already are incapable of calling the Russian aggression by its name, because they are dependent on Russian gas. If Putin topples Saakashvili and lays his hands on Georgia, that dependence will only grow. Without a reinvigorated American leadership or a worthy European leadership, the regional future might be a Finnish future. August 8, the day the Olympics began and the fighting in Georgia erupted, will be remembered no less than 9/11. When the history of the 21st century is written, it will view this past week as the week that symbolizes the rise of two new world powers: China and Russia. It will be decades before China surpasses the United States economically. It will be years before Russia goes back to being a Tsarist power. But August 8 marked the way. The question now is not what sort of world we are heading toward. The question is how fast we will get there. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Running out of time Is Sari Nusseibeh, the symbol of moderation, burying the two-state solution? The empire strikes back Russian artillery roaring into Tbilisi was not really about South Ossetia.   1.   Article flawed, Russia is no threat, islam is 09:45  |  Johnny 14/08/08   2.   ISLAMISTS are threats to both Russia,Israel and the world 10:12  |  PETER SM 14/08/08   3.   Russia is no threat, Israel is 10:15  |  Natallie Durson 14/08/08   4.   High Stakes Poker 10:19  |  Mark of Lewiston 14/08/08   5.   Excellent article with implications against Israeli belligerency 11:10  |  Ivar 14/08/08   6.   That`s why the`re buddies 11:22  |  Richard 14/08/08   7.   Peace - Soviet Union to Russia 11:25  |  manny Goldstein 14/08/08   8.   ISRAEL AND US ARE MUCH WORSE THAN RUSSIA 12:14  |  indrajaya 14/08/08   9.   You Know Everybody Is Training 13:20  |  Yosemite 14/08/08   10.   to # 5 next year Russians in Tallin 13:34  |  CM 14/08/08   11.   The Writer Tries to Deceive Readers! 13:37  |  Sharif Hafez 14/08/08   12.   IVAR actually it mentions Russia & Islam quite clearly. 14:28  |  PETER SM 14/08/08   13.   Georgia attacked, not Russia! 14:47  |  Mark B. 14/08/08   14.   ezra 9:2 14:54  |  albert paul ortiz 14/08/08   15.   I think the article flaws 14:55  |  J. 14/08/08   16.   Nuttalie #3 wrong as usual, Russia is importing nuclear material 15:21  |  JP 14/08/08   17.   Russia has NO democracy; she`s an oligarchy 15:27  |  AliciaYasmeen 14/08/08   18.   Quick to write off the U.S. 16:07  |  Len 14/08/08   19.   #1 Israel and the US are the real threat! 16:08  |  observer 14/08/08   20.   Typical Israeli Rationalizatoins 16:25  |  ARTH 14/08/08   21.   Russia is no threat. Ari Shavit is. 16:30  |  S 14/08/08   22.   Islam can`t be a threat, Talmudic Judaism is 16:30  |  Observer-33 14/08/08   23.   Ho, hum 16:31  |  jpudentain 14/08/08   24.   Global Stability? 16:32  |  Amazed! 14/08/08   25.   To Johnny of Stockholm 16:45  |  Logician 14/08/08   26.   22 this observer needs an objective lens in his brain 16:53  |  JP 14/08/08   27.   Russia today is just a continuation of the Soviet Union and the 16:59  |  Steve-NYC 14/08/08   28.   JP and `bonehead` #16 17:00  |  PG Tips 14/08/08   29.   Observer 33 and the bombings of buildings and killing of thousand 17:06  |  Jack 14/08/08   30.   Russia and georgia and the others 17:06  |  Lebanus 14/08/08   31.   JP explain to me what "pedophile like" values in islam is 17:20  |  noor 14/08/08   32.   JP on islam 17:21  |  noor 14/08/08   33.   Russia&China 17:35  |  Gerald Cohen-Napole 14/08/08   34.   Bravo, Ari Shavit... 17:38  |  sandra chitayat 14/08/08   35.   31 well noor, looks like you don´t ever knows about Islam at all 17:43  |  JP 14/08/08   36.   Russia is NO MORE, its been checkmated by US 17:43  |  leah 14/08/08   37.   Sheer nonsense 17:50  |  Axel 14/08/08   38.   # 29 Noor on honour-killings 17:52  |  AliciaYasmeen 14/08/08   39.   #30 Noor, correct me if I am wrong 17:57  |  AliciaYasmeen 14/08/08   40.   Journalism courses at university 18:07  |  rich 14/08/08   41.   Russian Invasion 18:19  |  M. Instasmu 14/08/08   42.   JP I asked you a question 18:26  |  noor 14/08/08   43.   Alicia, sharia has nothing to do w/ honour killings 18:28  |  noor 14/08/08   44.   Alicia and JP on Muhammad (PBUH) 18:46  |  noor 14/08/08   45.   author is IDIOT 18:55  |  chuckha 14/08/08   46.   US and Israel the Real Threat Like Joe Stalin Was A Great Guy 19:16  |  JP 14/08/08   47.   Russian expansion will lead to conflict with islamic states 19:22  |  Voice of Reason 14/08/08   48.   leah-don`t be silly #36 19:23  |  examiner 14/08/08   49.   #2, Islamists are Allies with Russia 19:31  |  Gary 14/08/08   50.   Russia is not a democracy 20:08  |  Anonymous 14/08/08   51.   To Logician #25 20:14  |  Johnny 14/08/08   52.   #46 Josef Stalin at least 20:24  |  chukcha 14/08/08   53.   Obama should stand up to Russia`s regime 20:34  |  Anonymous 14/08/08   54.   "Threats over here...Threats over there.... 21:02  |  Gray 14/08/08   55.   They both had their chance.NOW IT`S ISRAEL ALWAYS and FOREVER! 21:08  |  Tzemach 14/08/08   56.   Absurd 21:19  |  Jordan Magill 14/08/08   57.   Very good article 22:33  |  KUTW 14/08/08   58.   Yes - WAKE UP, ISRAEL. You have allowed it to fester here. 22:34  |  5th generation 14/08/08   59.   When folks are pointing out the "good side" of Stalin... 22:56  |  JP 14/08/08   60.   Anonymous on Chess players #50 22:59  |  anonymous 2 14/08/08   61.   Gray, As Usual, Presents Half-Truth As Fact 23:02  |  JP 14/08/08   62.   Russia is no threat; the nihilistic Islamic radicals are! 23:12  |  American 14/08/08   63.   AliciaYasmeen 23:23  |  Roo 14/08/08   64.