http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/344504The Swing State on the Black Sea
posted by John Nichols on 08/12/2008 @ 4:38pm
snip//
Biden has issued a string of thoughtful statements about the situation in South Ossetia. And on Tuesday he penned a tough-and-knowing opinion piece for the Financial Times newspaper in which the senior senator bluntly addressed Russia's leaders -- in language they are far more likely to take seriously than anything coming from the McCain or Obama camps.
"For Moscow, the most obvious casualty of the fighting could be the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 – supposedly the crown jewel in the country's campaign to reinvent itself. Sochi is only a few miles from the border with Georgia's other breakaway region of Abkhazia. Regardless of any political consequences, if fighting spreads, it could drive up insurance rates for the games to the point that it becomes prohibitively expensive to hold the Olympics in the region at all," wrote Biden.
"Russia may face other costly consequences for the violence," the senator added. "Vladimir Putin's plans to make Moscow an international financial centre may evaporate as the prospect of sanctions on the country rears its head. Western financial institutions, which have done little to expose evidence of official Russian corruption, may start pursuing the issue much more publicly."
Biden concluded his "Russia Must Stand Down" call for by explaining that:
"Georgia has made remarkable political and economic progress since the country's transition to democracy. The fighting will inevitably slow that progress, and exact a heavy toll in lives and treasure. But, however severe the damage, Georgia will rebuild – and the United States and Europe must help. The stakes in this conflict are as high as the peaks of the Caucasus.
"The only hope for preventing this crisis from becoming a calamity for Russia's relationship with the west is for Moscow to immediately ceasefire, pull back its forces and agree to negotiations brokered by the international community – all steps that the Georgian government has agreed to. If the fighting continues, this moment could emerge as a turning point in the west's relationship with Moscow, and deny Russia the international standing it seeks. That is not the future the United States or Europe want – but it is the future Russia may get if it does not stand down and live up to its responsibilities as a force for progress."
One may agree or disagree with Biden on specifics.
But his awareness of the issues that are at stake and the confidence with which he addresses them is not merely vice presidential.
It is more presidential than that of the current president or the major-party nominees to replace him.
And that makes Joe Biden what Barack Obama needs at this point: a running-mate who can play not just on the stage of a swing state but who on the global stage where the next administration will be required to perform immediately.
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