http://www.realclearpolitics.com/…

Mikheil Saakashvili’s decision to use the opening of the Olympic Games to cover Georgia’s invasion of its breakaway province of South Ossetia must rank in stupidity with Gamal Abdel-Nasser’s decision to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships.

Nasser’s blunder cost him the Sinai in the Six-Day War. Saakashvili’s blunder probably means permanent loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

After shelling and attacking what he claims is his own country, killing scores of his own Ossetian citizens and sending tens of thousands fleeing into Russia, Saakashvili’s army was whipped back into Georgia in 48 hours.

Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to kick the Georgian army out of Abkhazia, as well, to bomb Tbilisi and to seize Gori, birthplace of Stalin.

Reveling in his status as an intimate of George Bush, Dick Cheney and John McCain, and America’s lone democratic ally in the Caucasus, Saakashvili thought he could get away with a lightning coup and present the world with a fait accompli.

Mikheil did not reckon on the rage or resolve of the Bear.

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http://www.twincities.com/

Troy Molde awoke at 3 a.m. Thursday to police flashlights shining in his face. Two uniformed Lakeville officers were in his bedroom, knocking on the wall to wake him up.They were there, they said, to warn him to keep his doors closed and locked.

Their surprise visit was part of a public service campaign. Officers had fanned out across the city, leaving notices on doors to remind residents how to prevent thefts by keeping garage doors closed, not leaving valuables in cars and locking windows or doors.

But at Molde’s house, they went further. His two sons, ages 5 and 7, and 5-year-old twin nephews were having a sleepover in the living room. They awoke to find the officers in the house.
“I was violated, but … I wasn’t physically damaged,” Molde said of what he considers an invasion of privacy.

The officers told Molde his garage door was open, the TV was on, keys to his truck were left in the ignition and the door to his house was ajar.

Police said the intrusion was justified because the officers’ initial door knocks went unanswered. Police went inside to check if anything was wrong, Sgt. Jim Puncochar said.
He said the kids were afraid to wake their dad, so the officers went upstairs.

“It really was suspicious,” Puncochar said. But Molde, 34, said he went upstairs to bed at midnight. Molde didn’t shut the garage door, and he remembers leaving the doors to his house closed — but unlocked.

The kids fell asleep watching TV. Three hours later, he had police in his bedroom. He immediately thought something was wrong. “I was just dazed,” said the 34-year-old dad.
“It’s not a safe way of (police) protection.”

An invasion of privacy? I’d say so. I’m curious as to if the door was left ajar in the first place, especially since the owner said he left the door to his house closed. I’m also interested if the police even knocked at all. My suggestion is that the town of Lakeview rethink this “program” before someone gets injured. Neighborhood inspections like this one have the capacity to escalate quickly and violently if a homeowner hears an intruder, feels threatened and grabs a weapon for protection–a baseball bat, a lead pipe, or a gun. I also fear that if this program continues, more doors may be left “ajar” as a means of excusing a warrantless search.