It’s not the cavalry but it is important

President Bush’s decision to have the US military head up a humanitarian mission to Georgia is about more than bringing much-needed aid and relief to the Georgian people. The thinking appears to be that using US planes and ships to deliver aid will serve as a way of pressuring Russia not to close down Georgian airspace and try and blocks its access to the sea.

In an interview with The New York Times, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Bush’s announcement marked  a “turning point”: 

“What I expected specifically from America was to secure our airport and to secure our seaports,” he said, in a telephone interview minutes after Mr. Bush spoke. “The main thing now is that the Georgian Tbilisi airport will be permanently under control.”

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Russian forces occupy Gori, so much for the ceasefire

The New York Times's latest report from Gori, a Georgian town outside of South Ossetia, is well worth reading. This quote from a Russian tank commander is rather chilling:

The Russian tank commander bragged that his troops were ready for another head-on confrontation. “It all depends on what Saakashvili is going to say. If he doesn’t understand the situation, we’ll have to go further. It’s only 60 kilometers to Tbilisi,” the commander said, speaking at a checkpoint on the Gori-Tbilisi road. “He doesn’t seem understand that the Russian army is much stronger than the Georgian army. His tanks remain in their places. His air force is dead. His navy is also. His army is demoralized.”

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A Golden achievement

Whether you’re a fan of the Olympics or not it’s hard to deny the magnitude of American swimmer Michael Phelps’s achievement – winning a record 11 gold medals during his career (and still going for three more at the current games). 

To put that in perspective, there are 163 countries which, individually, have won fewer golds over the modern Olympics’ entire 110 year history. There are some surprisingly big names on this list. None of India, Ireland, Jamaica or Mexico has managed to accumulate as many golds over the years as Phelps has in Athens and Beijing.

If Phelps was a country, he’d be fifth in the Beijing medal table having won five golds — comfortably ahead of Team GB which has only won two so far. 

Let’s salute a great Olympian

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A Nudge on the funny bone

You either love these snappily titled American social science books—The Tipping Point, Blink, Freaknomics, Th!Nk and the one that the Cameroons are all reading: Nudge—or you hate them. Having just read Anne McElvoy’s review of Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s Nudge in Standpoint, I can guess which camp Anne falls in. But even as a bit of sucker for these books, I have to admit that her conclusion is hilarious:

Of course, I could just stop carping, get with the programme and contribute some sequels. A new philosophy for the Blairmeronian centre ground, Sludge. For confused Liberal Democrats, Fudge. And for David Davis and his renegade Tory libertarians, Grudge. I really think I’m on to something.

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My top five hates at the opera/theatre/concert/cinema

1.   Sitting beside a foot-tapper beating time

2.   Sitting next to a person who texts throughout a performance

3.   Sitting next to/behind/in front of a snorer/fidgeter/cougher/sniffer/whisperer

4.   Sitting behind over-tall people and those who wear hats

5.   Sitting beside an obese person who spills over into my seat

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What's in a name?

I just stumbled across a site called Anagram Genius, which turns famous names into amusing anagrams. Here are a few of the political ones I found:

The New Prime Minister Gordon Brown = Men now noted - wrong British Premier!

David Cameron = Dave? Minor cad

David Miliband = I'm livid and bad

The Deputy Prime Minister John Leslie Prescott = Hits, injures. (Hot-tempered, completely inept, sir)

Barack Hussein Obama = Bush, I can break Osama.

Tony Blair = Tory in Lab

Yes, ok, I have cheated a little with the names, but do CoffeeHousers have any alternatives?
 

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Another by-election nightmare looms for Brown

The death of John MacDougall, Labour MP for Glenrothes since 2001, will trigger yet another nightmare for Gordon Brown. No other word will do. Glenrothes in Fife is on the PM’s very doorstep and – after Glasgow East – looks distinctly vulnerable. In the 2005 general election, Mr MacDougall polled 19,395 votes, well ahead of the SNP’s John Beare on 8,731. But Labour’s majority of 10,664 accounted for only 28.5 per cent of the vote. In Glasgow East, Labour’s 2005 majority was larger in absolute terms – 13,507 – but accounted for more than 43 per cent of the turnout.

In other words, Glenrothes looks like an even juicier target for the SNP: if Alex Salmond’s party could win in Glasgow East, this should be, frankly, a doddle. Expect a bonanza of by-election bribes from the Treasury in the weeks before the by-election. Will they make any difference? I doubt it. As Irwin Stelzer argues in tomorrow’s magazine, the voters are getting wise to Mr Brown’s efforts to woo them with their own money  - or, rather the growing public debt which they, as taxpayers will service.

The (as yet unannounced) date of the Glenrothes by-election is now one of the most important in the months ahead – up there with Gordon’s conference speech in Manchester next month. The respective supporters of David Miliband, Alan Johnson, Jack Straw, Harriet Harman and others will be making their dispositions for the morning after the vote. Do not be deceived by the dozy politics of the summer holidays. There is much bloodshed ahead.

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What the West should do now

There are two things that the West should now do in relation to Georgia. The first is to help preserve the fragile truce that now exists between Georgia and Russia. That means that Western policymakers have to be involved, encouraging and prominent. They should not shy away from using the carrot and the stick, in the form of incentives and sanctions. And they should consider deploying a peacekeeping force in the region, and what its role would be. So far, the French have lead by example. Hopefully, that example will be followed by other nations – including Britain – at an emergency meeting of EU nations later today.

The second is to help find, as Gordon Brown put it, a “permanent solution” to the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But things aren't looking promising on that front. A sixth point was dropped from the five point plan brokered by the French – a point which would have held the Russians and the Georgians to holding international discussions on the futures of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. And the Georgian President, Mikhail Saakashvili, has even said that:

“The territorial integrity and belonging of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgia can never be put under doubt.”

At the very least, this stubbornness leaves his country open to future Russian bullying. The best alternative would be a democratic solution to the problem, by way of internationally-monitored referenda in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.  Not only could this deliver to both regions the self-determination they're alleged to desire, but it would also be good for Georgia.  After all, it would help prove that country's democratic credentials in the eyes of the West, thereby easing its entry into Nato.  And, for the reasons outlined by James a fews day ago, that should be the utlimate goal now.

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Reverend Wright plans an October surprise

New York Magazine has done a special issue this week on race and the US election. There’s lot of good stuff in the package but this line from John Heilemann’s cover story stood out to me:

“In October, Obama’s former pastor, Wright, will publish a new book and hit the road to promote it”

This is a huge problem for Obama. It means that the whole controversy over Wright’s racialist sermons and his friendship with Obama is going to be returning to the news agenda just as undecided voters begin to make up their minds.

Wright’s performance at the National Press Club back in April showed that Wright revels in the national spotlight and doesn’t care if his performances hurt Obama. If the Obama campaign and mutual friends of the two men couldn’t rein Wright in then, they have little hope of doing so in October considering that following Wright’s National Press Club performance Obama said that Wright’s views ‘rightly offend all Americans, and should be denounced’.

Update: See Roland Martin's comment below, turns out there might not be a book after all.

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Your questions for Eric Pickles

It's been a week since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Eric Pickles.  We've since picked out the best five, which have now been put to the shadow communities secretary.  He'll get back to us in a couple of days.

The CoffeeHousers whose questions were chosen can e-mail me on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk to claim their t-shirt and 180th Anniversary issue of the magazine.

Anyway, here are the questions:

Victoria Street

"Devolving power downwards from Westminster doesn't mean that the blame can always be devolved downwards. Are you prepared for the inevitable slew of critical media that is an inevitable result of letting go the reins? Can you resist the temptation to intervene? Can you take the pressure of Labour and LibDem authorities demanding central government action to pay for their local mistakes?"

Tiberius

"Do you have a formula which you feel will lead to successful integration of minorities into mainsteam, host communities, simultaneously leading them away from destructive influences?"

Ray

"Will a future Conservative Government have go at one-and-for-all sorting out the powers, responsibilities and funding of local authorities in such a way that councils once again raise the bulk of the money they spend themselves (and hence councillors can be held more fully accountable for the way it is spent)?"

Silent Hunter

"How are you going to deal with all the New Labour 'embedded' senior civil servants in all departments of government?

Won't they be a drag anchor in your efforts to get this country back on its feet after 11 years of Labour misrule?"

David Parker

"Are Regional Assemblies cost effective, worthwhile or compatible with Tory local government policy?"

BorisforPM

"Eric, the Crewe and Nantwich result was an astounding one which attracted masses of support from activists and officers of the Conservative party. All their hard work, no doubt, contributed to the result. But that was a by-election. In the coming general election, each constituency won't have that sort of manpower. What is the single most important strategic change that can be made to the campaigns for the general election?"

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