Sovereign

Hopefully you've noticed that some battles between countries are not merely figurative (as in Beijing right now). As war breaks out between the small republic of Georgia and its enormous neighbor, one cannot help to recall parallels with previous conflicts between a superpower and a thorn in the side. And if you've any confusion about what I'm referring to, consider this snippet (made in Beijing, where the speaker had just eaten lunch with Russia's president):

“Georgia is a sovereign nation, and its territorial integrity must be respected,” Mr. Bush said in a hastily arranged appearance at his hotel. “We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand down by all troops. We call for the end of the Russian bombings.”

It seems to me (in my simple mind) that Russia's just taking a lesson from the good ole U S of A. I would like to see the above quotation replace 'Russia' with 'America' and 'Georgia' with 'Iraq.' but that's just me.