Happy Monday! There's a lot going on in the world around us. Here are a few of the biggest stories going right now.

In another sign of increasing tensions with Iran, two more U.S. carrier groups have been dispatched to the region. Keep an eye out.

The U.S. dollar is recovering:

This week will be crucial in determining whether the dollar has broken free from its six-year downward trend, as speculation mounts that the US is in the best position to emerge quickly from the economic downturn.

The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six major currencies, put in its best performance for over three-and-a-half years last week and boosted the dollar to its highest level for four months.

Against the euro, the dollar surged more than 5 cents, taking it more than 6 per cent higher than the low it hit last month.

This is great news, as the weak dollar is one component of why gas prices are so high. Even more importantly, the weak dollar has also been at the root of quite a bit of buying by foreign nations like China, who has boasted in the past about being able to ruin the U.S. without firing a single shot. Having a weak dollar is not only an economic problem, it's a national security one, too. I hope this trend continues. Interestingly enough, this article also shares that there are concerns for economic slowdowns in several other big international economies, and a growing believe that the U.S.'s own slowdown will quickly be behind us. I hope they're right!

Speaking of gas prices, they're now lower for the 24th consecutive day. Also at this link is a petition that you can sign to urge Speaker Pelosi to bring the House back into session for a vote on energy. The House GOP continues their revolt on the floor of the House this week. By the way, on the Senate side of Congress, the end of last week saw one of the most brainless, spineless displays of Republican idiocy that I can recall ever hearing about, but I'll cover that in a separate post later today.

Perhaps the biggest news going on right now is the action in Georgia. Swarms of Russian jets have been attacking Georgian targets, and an all-out assault appears to be shaping up. This sort of response is way out of proportion to the small, militarily-insignificant breakaway republic's actions, showing the world that Russia is simply bent on conquest and retribution.

A little background. From what I've read about this, Russia has long held designs on the former Soviet Union states, yearning to expand Russia to her former glory. These small states are pretty much all pro-Western because the West essentially freed them from Soviet tyranny. They have made incredible gains in terms of living conditions and economic growth, but given that they started from shambles, none of them have a prayer of standing up to the Russia war machine. They need help from the West to survive.

Michelle Malkin questions whether Georgia's trials right now are similar to the events in Hungary in 1956, when they bucked for independence and were soundly thumped by the Soviet Union, with much bloodshed and repression as their reward. At the time, the rest of the world only issued strong words of condemnation.

If it is condemnation of Russian aggression that may make a difference, we’ll have plenty of that. Russia is, as Saakashvili notes, at war with Georgia, and their war has spread far beyond South Ossetia and into the rest of the country. Putin’s transparent rationalizations hide an avaricious agenda of conquest, and he must be opposed. We see the true face of Putin at last, and he’s every bit as ugly as the totalitarian Evil Empire which proceeded him (to which he bears an unmistakable family resemblance.)

Russia’s attacks are not only without justification, but they’re also indiscriminate and far out of any doctrine of proportion. No imminent threat justifies their actions. Nothing except a desire to punish and subjugate Georgia motivates their shelling of civilian targets far from South Ossetia.

Georgians, meanwhile, feel betrayed by the U.S. and the western world, as we have so far relied on strong words of condemnation rather than military action to protect our ally. They seem justified, as they have stuck by us in Iraq for years. Of course, military action against the likes of Russia are incredibly tricky right now, so there's no easy answer.

Powerline has some great analysis of what's at stake in this situation:

This is a huge event, and our inaction has been a disgrace. Have you noticed that Secretary Rice and President Bush's responses have virtually mirrored Senator Obama's recommendations? It is heaps of shame on the current administration for letting a close ally dangle like this, and is instructive of just how bad an Obama foreign policy would be.

There have been only a very few times that I have been embarrassed by this Administration. This has been one of them.

Your last post on the energy route made an important point. Georgia is important to the West for more than just political reasons. It is an incredibly strategic location. That pipeline is an independent source of energy for the West, and an independent source of income for countries in the Caspian Basin. It allows them to have an independent foreign policy. It gives, say, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan the freedom to allow US arms to fly across their territory on the way to Afghanistan. Did you know that Russia forbids the transport of US military hardware across its territory, even by plane? Of course, Iran does too. Look at a map and think of where the large US logistical bases are located (Germany). That leaves only a narrow corridor -- across Georgia and Azerbaijan -- that we can use to supply our troops in Afghanistan.

There's another point here. Russia is best influenced from Tbilisi, Astana, Kiev, etc. -- not from Moscow. Russia is a bully. It does not respond to demarches, security council rebukes and harsh denunciations. Remember Orwell's comment about goose-stepping armies (and yes, the Russians still goose-step):

The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is "Yes, I am ugly, and you daren't laugh at me," like the bully who makes faces at his victim.

Russia has been angry that Georgia and its other former Soviet colonies haven't been bowing to Russian control. Russia is out to teach them a lesson.

And that's precisely why this attack is a swipe at the US. President Bush made Georgia one of his signature projects. One of the very first decisions Bush's security council made in 2001 was on Georgia. Georgia's progress over the last few years have been awe-inspiring and President Bush can very plausibly take a significant amount of credit for that. The Georgians sure think so. They renamed the main street in downtown Tbilisi after him. They sent troops to help us in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. Russia is punishing Georgia for cozying up with the US, and telegraphing the message to the rest of its neighbors: listen to us and not the Americans.

Given the weak response from the US, who do you think Russia's neighbors are listening to right now? Countries like Estonia or Kazakhstan are going to be terrified over this. Or think about the Czech Republic who just fought a very contentious political battle to allow missile defense radars (the Russian Chief of Staff of the Army threatened an invasion!) . Poland has yet to sign an agreement to allow missile defense interceptors on their soil. What do you want to bet the price just went up? NATO has also been silent. What does that mean for countries like Ukraine who have asked to join, bucking Moscow's decree not to do so or else. The message is clear: don't go too far out on the US' limb because they won't back you up. (and what kind of lesson will Israel take away from this?)

Put into the context of Russia's recent behavior -- the polonium poisonings, trying to kill a pro-Western presidential candidate in Ukraine, shutting off energy supplies to Europe, high tech arms transfers and nuclear know-how to Iran, strategic bomber runs into Alaskan airspace, etc., etc., etc. - this is very serious indeed. Russia responds to resistance and pushback, not "strong denunciations." So far they've only found an open door.

In a way, this attack is very similar to the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979. Iran terrorized a helpless group of people to humiliate the US. I believe that is what is going on here.

The US is typically slow to respond to shocks like this. We still have time to redeem ourselves. However, it appears that our foreign policy has taken a decisively Carter-esque turn. Iran has witnessed US acquiescence to their proxy Hezbollah taking over Lebanon. We've done little about their militias killing Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our enemies are learning that there is virtually nothing that will evoke an American response.

Let's hope that this brings back some of some of that first-term President Bush. Otherwise, surely bad things will follow. President Bush sees himself as a bold, Trumanesque President. It's time for a bold response like the Berlin Airlift.

Taken all together, these things sure look like they may be building toward a major conflict, especially if you take a look at what Joel Rosenberg is saying:

Who is really in charge in Moscow, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or newly installed President Dmitry Medvedev? For the moment, it seems to be Putin who is calling the shots and speaking out most forcefully on the crisis with Georgia. Putin, of course, believes deeply in restoring the glory of Mother Russia. He certainly does not want to lose Russian territory and is determined to expand the Russian empire. As I have written about previously, he knows he cannot expand Russia westward because NATO is expanding eastward. Putin also knows he cannot expand Russia eastward because of China. He has claimed ownership of the North Pole, but the real opportunity for Russia is to expand southward, and that is where Putin has been focusing all of his attention in recent years. He is determined to control the Caucuses region, and South Ossetia -- though not a name or place most Westerners have ever heard of much less cared about -- is a key piece in Putin's southward strategy.

In April of this year, under intense pressure from Moscow, NATO decided not to invite Georgia and Ukraine join its 26-member alliance immediately, but promised to revisit the issue soon. This may prove to have been a serious mistake, inviting Russian provocation.

Observers of Biblical prophecies such as Ezekiel 38 and 39 will note that directly or effectively controlling Georgia would be key when Moscow one day begins moving Russian military forces through Turkey and into Lebanon, Syria and eventually against Israel.

These world events are worth watching, if only because of what they mean for us as people living in the world's only remaining superpower. But, if you put these events into a broader context of the Biblical battle of good and evil, they become even more critical to follow. If you're new to my blog, please check out my previous posts about Joel Rosenberg and why you should care very, very much about what he says.

Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention...!

There's my two cents.