German Chancellor Angela Merkel certainly means well. But it must be tough when good intentions, especially when they come from the world’s most powerful woman, get laughed at by an autocratic puppet who really couldn’t care less.

That Russia finds Germany’s (OK, the EU’s) “tough talk” about its actions in the Caucasus amusing certainly has its reasons. They know, as the rest of us do, that the German public, for instance, will never stand for any policy that would require them to stand fast against that country, much less call for sacrifices in Germany or from Germans for a place like Georgia (and no, it’s not the one down there by Florida).

Well, that’s not quite true. Let me clarify that: Germany and the rest of Europe (New and Old Europe alike) would never stand fast against Russia without standing behind the USA. But that goes without saying. And that’s why nobody here ever says that. It’s tasteless to say such a thing, just ask that tasteless John McCain, he’ll tell you that in a heartbeat. Obama’s the guy you want when you want a world where “no challenge is too great for a world that stands as one.”

But where’s the world when you need it? Take this great challenge, for instance. We all know what “the world” is thinking: What’s so great about it?

So keep on making those phone calls, Angie. Maybe send them a few emails while you’re at it. And maybe then Russia will lighten up and begin feeling your pain and begin showing understanding for “the world” out there. Yeah, and maybe (in Wayne’s World not ours), monkeys will start flying out of Madonna’s butt, too.

Come visit me at Observing Hermann…