Echoes of the Prague Spring

[shrike]

Russia's invasion of Georgia comes 40 years after another Kremlin act of aggression against a small, nearby, and independent-minded country. Czechoslovakia was the victim in that earlier instance. A communist country and a vassal state of the Soviet empire, Czechoslovakia's party leadership had initiated a reform process, dubbed the Prague Spring, that sought to infuse state socialism with elements of civil liberties and the market. It was the first attempt to "reform" communism from inside party ranks. The party leader, Alexander Dubcek, and his allies intended to move carefully — as communists they recognized the dangers in a reform movement that the party was unable to manage ... Democracy's response to Georgia will depend on America. In 1968, America was mired in multiple crises that make today's problems pale in comparison: Vietnam, assassinations, race riots, campus takeovers. The invasion of Czechoslovakia coincided with the Democratic Convention, notable for clashes between anti-war demonstrators and the police. Under these circumstances, Americans hardly noticed events in central Europe; the candidate of the anti-war forces, Eugene McCarthy, flatly refused to condemn the invasion. America's response to Georgia has been seemingly clear and strong. But just as Lyndon Johnson ignored unmistakable signs of planned Soviet intervention, so the Bush administration failed utterly to take Moscow to task for its many pre-invasion provocations. The challenge will be to sustain a bipartisan policy that is anchored on the defense of a beleaguered ally with democratic aspirations and, beyond that, forthright support for Russia's democratic neighbors. Unfortunately, by failing to act with resolution earlier, the administration approaches this struggle from a position of distinct weakness. If the Prague Spring represents a dark moment for the West, it stands as an experiment in freedom that is to the enduring credit of its participants. Its peaceful nature set the tone for the later revolutions that brought freedom to Czechs, Slovaks, and other subjugated European peoples. The crisis in Georgia is a depressing reminder of the fragile nature of those achievements in the face of an emboldened and antidemocratic adversary.

Echoes of the Prague Spring - August 20, 2008 - The New York Sun
Anyone who talks about Iraq doesn't understand that Russia does not need any "bad example" to act is way it act the invasion to Georgia is a regular and expected thing from such country.

[Nono]

Nobody's saying that Russia needs a bad example to behave badly. Russia does it instinctively.

What people are saying is that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.