Palin says Russia was Unprovoked

President Medvedev revealed in a frank and close to public discussion with the members of the Valdai Discussion club how news of war in South Ossetia came to him.
‘I’ll never forget that night’
“I was on vacation. They say, Russia was preparing for war – that’s a lie! The Defence Minister called me at 1 a.m. and said, the Georgians have told the Ossetians that they were starting a war. And while all those troops were moving towards South Ossetia, I took no decision and hoped those dimwits would have enough brains to stop. They didn’t! We held ourselves until they started firing rockets, shelling residential blocks, and shooting at peacekeepers. Even then we didn’t respond.”

“I’ll never forget that night. It was very hard to order the use of force, while knowing the consequences. We did everything right. And I’m proud of it. Our response was symmetrical and proportional.”

“For me the events in August put an end to any illusion that the world is just. For me personally it was the loss of my last illusions. For Russia, August 8 is like 9/11 for America.”
"We didn’t want it, didn’t want it at all! For 17 years we’ve being mending what had broken apart a long time ago. And they didn’t thank us for that – rather they started shooting at us.”

George Bush would do the same

“When I talked to Bush on the phone last time I told him: you’d have done the same in a situation like this, just in a more harsh way. He didn’t argue.”



So if a country started firing rockets and shelling residential blocks in America she would say "Oh well, at least they aren't provoking us?!!!?

First, Georgia is not a member of NATO and is not likely to become so, mostly because the Europeans are more sane than the American neoconservatives, primarily because they live next door to Russia. Second, Russia did not invade Georgia, Russia defended South Ossetia from an attack launched by Georgia. In its defensive action, Russia took out Georgia’s military capacity and that necessitated going into Georgia proper. Third, Georgia is not a democracy as should be apparent when one looks at Saakashvili’s reaction to opposition protesters last year — he responded with tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets, and a “state of emergency,” that is to say martial law.