Инопланетяне и логика

[birdwatcher]

Вашингтон Пост в удачно озаглавленной статье "Understanding Russia" объясняет, чем война в Грузии отличается от войн в Ираке и Сербии:

After all, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq and attacked Serbia; why can't Russia do the same to Georgia?

Here's why. The United States, Britain and other nations deposed the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein because he repeatedly violated his promises to the United Nations, after his earlier invasion of Kuwait, to rid himself of weapons of mass destruction and prove that he had done so. They invaded Serbia to protect the people of Kosovo from mass ethnic cleansing and destruction. In both cases, reasonable people can argue that it was wrong to act without U.N. authorization; they can make a case that the campaigns were unwise on many other grounds. What they can't argue is that the allies were motivated by a desire for conquest or occupation; as the presidential campaign has shown, the American people can hardly wait to pull their troops out and leave Iraqis to manage their own affairs.

Судя по всему, им кажется, что the presidential campaign has shown нечто подобное, и, далее, что это имеет какое-то отношение к обсуждаемому вопросу.