THE ECHO OF THE GEORGIAN - RUSSIAN CONFLICT - REPORT FROM WITTEN

Even though the conference takes place in a town almost totally secluded from modernity, thanks to such appliances as the wireless Internet (working painfully slow, but anyway) we still have some idea what's going on in the world. It's not always a good thing. The fruitful international cooperation which has been taking place during the last few days was disturbed because of the recent events in Georgia. It should not wonder that Poles, who are the most numerous nationality here, took a different posture than Russians. The difference erupted with full force during the presentation prepared by Russian team concerning American reactions to the conflict. The angle from which the war was described caused some strong reactions among the Polish audience and discussions continued long time afterwards. Fortunately, the sometimes heated debate was only political, not personal.

However, there have been no quarrels in one matter: the conflict at its current level of intensity should not influence the campaign. Since the voters are concerned with domestic economy even the valiant We are all Georgians rhetoric of McCain will not probably matter much. Of course there is always a possibility the war will escalate. If so, winds may blow good for the Republican candidate: the major international crisis will make his foreign policy credentials vital. Conspiracy theorists may even claim it was the Bush administration that urged Saakashvili to attack Ossetia in order to make the international situation more favorable to McCain. It would be a nasty way to win a campaign – but at least an original one.