WTF? McCain Thinks Georgia is the 'First Serious Crisis' in Post-Cold War Era

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 11:04 AM on August 15, 2008.

Once in a while, the depth of John McCain's foreign policy confusion stops being funny, and starts getting scary.

For those of you who can't watch clips online, McCain told an audience at the Aspen Institute yesterday, "My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War. This is an act of aggression."

About a month ago, McCain said the war in Iraq is the "first major conflict since 9/11," which seemed pretty odd given the war in Afghanistan.

But this is considerably worse. The Cold War effectively ended 19 years ago, and the conflict between Russia and Georgia is the first serious international crisis in that time? Are you kidding me?

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has fought (or is fighting) two wars in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, and two conflicts in the Balkans. There have been multiple crises in Israel. There was a burgeoning nuclear crisis with North Korea. There is, and has been, a crisis in Darfur. There have been multiple, shall we say, tense moments between Pakistan and India, nuclear powers both. One could make the argument that the attacks of Sept. 11 were, themselves, a serious international crisis.

And yet, there's John McCain, describing a regional conflict between Russia and Georgia as the first "serious crisis internationally" since the end of the Cold War. Do the other crises simply not count? Or does McCain not remember them?

Tagged as: mccain, georgia, post cold war era

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the former lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, Crooks & Liars, Salon.com’s War Room, Political Wire, and Seven Days.