All those who complain that America needs to stop policing the world should take a look at what happens when other countries try on the badge.

Last summer, after Russia rolled into and occupied Georgia, French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead in drafting a six-point ceasefire between the neighboring countries. With the best of intentions, Sarkozy ended up composing a sort of lease extension for occupying forces. The agreement barely addressed the future of Georgia’s territorial integrity. Now, eight months later, Russia digs in solidly:

Russia signed a deal with Georgia’s two breakaway regions Thursday giving Moscow the power to guard their borders – a move sharply criticized in Tbilisi.

President Dmitry Medvedev and the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia signed the agreements at a Kremlin ceremony nearly nine months after the brief war between Russia and Georgia.

The deal is an apparent attempt to legitimize the presence of thousands of Russian troops in the separatist regions, which were at the center of the war.

This is a violation of the ceasefire, but with no “world police” to say boo, the Kremlin isn’t exactly shaking. Today, Bloomberg reports, “Russia has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers in two breakaway Georgian regions, thousands more than previously announced, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.”

It’s been a slow and silent annexation. And it is sure to last. U.S.-Russia relations have been “reset,” remember? Barack Obama is Dmitry Medvedev’s “comrade,” and it’s bad form to criticize annexation between comrades. Besides, the American president has already begged Moscow for help in a couple of areas and Medvedev has turned the requests into very public American humiliations.

Obama is in the habit of apologizing to the rest of the world, so maybe he can add this little P.S. next time he’s doing global penance: “Sorry, Georgia. We’re too busy with toy buttons and smart power to worry about your little Russia problem. We’ve stopped policing.”

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