Russia-Georgia Conflict Offers Glimpse at New World Order

By G. Seib, WSJ:

This is a week in which Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama likely are thinking more about Georgia the country than Georgia the state, and for good reason: The hostilities that have erupted between Georgia and Russia are telling us a lot about the world order one of them will inherit as the next president.

As hostilities intensify between Georgia and Russia, WSJ's Jerry Seib reports on the new world order facing the next president of the United States where good ties with China are proving strategically invaluable.

Russia's decision to send its troops and bombs into Georgia is a testament, at least in part, to how much the flow of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue is emboldening Moscow to defy the U.S. and the West in ways it either wouldn't or couldn't just a few years ago.

But the troubling strategic reality that is emerging is bigger and starker than just that. The rise of energy prices also is enriching other bad actors, creating a kind of globe-girdling string of well-heeled regional antagonists the U.S. can't ignore.

[...]

MORE