RUSH: Now, sticking on the subject of oil, can I now discuss the war between Russia and Georgia? I can, because it is my show. As I said earlier this week, this war between Russia and Georgia is about many things. At the top of the list is oil. This is a war for oil. Have I got your attention? Let me explain it to you. Charles Krauthammer writes about it very well today in a column that I have from the National Review website. He describes what Russia is trying to do as the Finlandization of Georgia, the isolation of Georgia. If they succeed — and they want Saakashvili out, this is about regime change. Despite what Vitaly Churkin said yesterday, this is totally about regime change. It’s Putin being able to put a Russian puppet in to run Georgia. That would give Russia control of a huge oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. That pipeline is ‘the only significant European-bound route for Caspian Sea oil and gas that does not go through Russia.’ They want it. ‘Pipelines are the economic lifelines of such former Soviet republics as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan that live off energy exports.’
Moscow, if they succeed in isolating Georgia and basically installing a puppet Russian leader to run the country, would become the master of the Caspian basin. So they would be in charge of every oil pipeline feeding Europe to the West. Folks, this is a different Russia than when the wall came down. That Russia was broke. This Russia is flush. This Russia has lots of money via its own oil sales. So this war, while it’s all about Russia asserting itself and Russia trying to rebuild its empire, not the Soviet Union, but it’s empire, while it’s all about testing the West, it’s all about seeing what we will do, will we do anything besides words, that’s what they want to find out. There’s some things that we could do, but it doesn’t look like Europeans or even State Department Americans want to do anything to stop this. It doesn’t look like Obama has the slightest bit of understanding what this is about or how to deal with it or that he even finds it wrong. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is about that pipeline. The Russians reportedly just barely missed when they bombed that pipeline. I don’t think it was like a bare miss. I think it was right on target. I think it’s a warning shot. So put this in your pipe and smoke it. While the Russians are trying to co-opt and conquer a country for an oil pipeline that will give them total control of all the oil and gas pipelines that feed western Europe, while they are doing everything they can to strengthen their oil producers, while they are doing everything they can to strengthen their oil business, we are doing everything we can to weaken ours.