Palin Won’t Rule Out War With Russia

In her interview today with ABC News’ Charles Gibson, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin stated in no uncertain terms “we cannot repeat the Cold War”. However, in a follow-up question about a possible hot war with Russia, the Alaska Governor’s answer was an unsettlingly non-committal “perhaps”.

The interview revealed today further aspects of Sarah Palin’s position on foreign policy, first explored in her RNC speech last week. She said she had already spoken to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and had given him assurances of her commitment to Georgia, and believed “we’ve got to keep an eye on Russia”. She said she was in favor of NATO membership for both Georgia and the Ukraine, and when asked if this would require the US to go to war if war broke out between Russia and Georgian again, the governor said “Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally”.

On other matters, Palin declared her somwhat muted support for “anticipatory self-defense,” her commitment to preventing a nuclear Iran, and insisted she would not “second guess” Israel if it decided to attack Iran. In a question regarding the use of US ground troops in Pakistan without the permission of the Pakistani government she said “I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists”.

She also clarified her previous comments that the plan for the Iraq War was God’s plan, saying she was attempting to reference a quote from Abraham Lincoln that said his greatest concern was to be on God’s side. She said that she would never presume to speak for God, or claim to know what His will was.