I recall the first uprisings in Zaire and the Belgian response with troops across the river in waiting while the French jumped right on in. At that point, most of the American expats and dependents were long gone. Seems we've been learning from our painful lessons. I'd have to wonder what would have happened if the US had as many expats there as the Belg.

On the other hand, we have all the makings of a political and forceful intervention on our border here. between 200 and 300,000 Russian citizens (3,700 more granted Russian citizenship this year) openly wait for President Medvedev and PM Putin to demonstrate another Georgian War. As one ethnic Russian said “Who will stop them?”