September 30, 2008 By James Kimer

Misha’s Domino Theory

An interesting column from Melik Kaylan at Forbes, who spends some time following Mikheil Saakashvili during last week’s UNGA, and gets into a debate with Owen Matthews about Russia’s ambitions and the legitimacy of their current grievances. The fundamental question of the debate: does a NATO presence in the Ukraine or Georgia really actually pose a security threat to Russia, or only a defense against expansionism?

We had the McCain-Obama debate on. At the bohemian Greenwich Village brownstone of our friend Ann Marlowe, the leading literary salonista of our time, Misha ate and watched and greeted a stream of well-wishers. Upstairs, Owen and I debated the Russia/Georgia matter. He had just penned a quasi-sympathetic large profile of Misha in Newsweek. I had just published a story in The Wall Street Journal, the first to detail the destruction of Georgian cultural sites during the recent invasion. I have said before in this space that Owen, like many others, believes Misha made a mistake in the recent conflict by drawing his six-gun first–I believe the Russkies drew first, but Misha moved quicker. Owen and I ranged back and forth over the topic. So I suggested to him that we have it out in public, here, in my column. Let him speak for himself.