EATO?

As in "Eurasian Treaty Organization".  That sure sounds like what Czar Vladimir is "proposing":

The President of Russia has called on Europe’s leaders to create a new world order that would minimise the role of the United States.

Confident that a row with Europe prompted by Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August was over, Dmitry Medvedev arrived in the French spa town of Evian on Wednesday determined to woo his fellow leaders into creating an anti-US front. …

In a speech delivered to European leaders at a conference hosted by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss the international financial crisis, Mr Medvedev sought to show that the US was at the root of all the world’s problems. He blamed Washington’s “economic egotism” for the world’s financial woes and then accused the Bush Administration of taking Europe to the brink of a new cold war by pursuing a deliberately divisive foreign policy.

He also maintained that the US was once again trying to return to a policy of containing Russia.

Somebody needs to tell Medvedev and his superior Putin that Barack Obama already locked up the Democrat presidential nomination a month and a half ago.  Just as somebody needs to remind the EUnuchs that we didn't exactly "contain" the Russians in Georgia and aren't any better poised to do so anywhere else given how tied up we are with finishing the job in Iraq, keeping al Qaeda from conquering Pakistan, and preventing a nuclear Iran.  All of which will go out the window starting next January 20th anyway.  Perhaps we should call this typically crass Russian attempt to bully Europe into submission their "anti-McCain hedge".

I'm actually of two minds as to which hypothesis this "EATO" proposal better substantiates.  On the one hand, it could be indicative of Kremlin arrogance borne of the more or less blanket totality of their humiliation of the West in general and the U.S. in particular in their unopposed invasion of Georgia (though it should be noted that they have not YET taken the remainder of that country and finally retreated to South Ossetia and Abkhazia just recently).  In essence, "Look at the lesson we taught the upstart Georgians: You're at our mercy, we can take you any time we want, and your American friends can't do a damn thing about it.  The same is true of all of you, so we 'advise' you to take stock of where your true national interests lie - to say nothing of where you get most of your energy supplies - and come to terms with us.  Or else."  Contrariwise, it might be a tacit admission of weakness in that they're floating the flipping of Europe's century-old alliegance as a trial balloon rather than simply handing the EU an ultimatum.

The middle ground between the two is probably closest to the pin: Moscow really can't muscle the Euros into their orbit, particularly with the Democrat Financial Logic Bomb having impacted the Russians even harder than either the U.S. or E.U., but they're banking on the intimidation factor from their Georgian adventure coupled with that famed European pacifist, post-modernist, leftophilic gullibility to dupe them into submission.

It sure would be interesting to see Bob Schiefer ask Barack Hoover Obama what he thinks of the Russian "EATO" proposal in the final debate, wouldn't it?  Somehow, I don't think he'd really have a problem with it, other than Putin and Medvedev having beaten him to it.