Avast ye scurvy dogs!

Lean in close, me hearty: I’ve a rare find for ye. If Ol’ One-Eyed Barack Obama be looking for a new First Mate, I’ve just the lad: Chrs Dodd. That’s because Obama and Joe Slippery Mouth may be as tough as cheesecloth and durable as parchment paper, but Dodd’s tongue is rough enough to earn a spot on me own crew. Seems Dodd called a meeting in Parliament with the King’s own men (cursed be their names), and he fired a shot across the Tsar’s own bow:

Second, we will need to continue reassessing our approach for dealing with Russia. We simply cannot allow Russia to act like the Soviet Union. We cannot allow them to go around intimidating or toppling democracies. In many respects, this question is bigger than Georgia and bigger than Russia. It’s a matter of what kind of world we’re going to live in. And whether small democracies will thrive in that world, or whether they’re going to get bullied by the biggest kids on the block.

Russia has a critically important relationship with the United States and the West – but it’s a relationship that is now badly off track. Obviously, we want to work with Russia on a wide range of issues. The United States has supported Russia’s attempts to join international organizations and tried to partner with Moscow on a wide range of issues. Russia’s increasing integration into the international community has had significant benefits for the Kremlin and the Russian people. The country’s economy has grown rapidly in recent years, and Russians are understandably proud of their progress…

Beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus, what happened in Georgia will have echoes in Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltics, and Eastern Europe. If leaders in those countries are intimidated to the point that they begin acting in opposition to their democratic interests, it will be a major blow to the process Euro-Atlantic integration that has transformed much of the region so successfully.

Geopolitically, we are witnessing a major moment in history. Future generations will remember the war in Georgia as a turning point – the only question is what type of turning point. Will it mark the moment that Russia recognized the political and economic costs of military conflict with its neighbors was prohibitively high, and permanently abandoned the practice? Or, will it usher in a new era of insecurity in which no country in the region – Russia included – feels confident in its ability to prosper in the absence of outside pressure? How the United States and our allies respond will have a significant impact in determining which of those scenarios comes to be.

Arr.. that be language to warm a pirate’s heart! True, ’tis mighty pretty, but I’ll wager a man who can rattle his saber at the Cossacks can talk simple enough to pass muster on me own ship. But truth be told, One-Eyed Obama couldn’t look the Tsar in the eye when the test came, and showed he knows naught about dealings with rough men. He could use a second who at least talks tough. For a pirate knows: he that can’t talk tough when the time is right has to use his saber more often in the end.