The varmint count: We have lost one absolutely gorgeous eggplant. We have also liberated one groundhog from the compound. We continue the campaign.

***

I think the language barrier between the West and the Russians, and the Russian troops, is more severe than we had thought. You see, when the Russians say “pullout,” the soldiers hear “dig in the tanks.” When the Russians say “protect the civilians,” the soldiers hear “seize the port.” When the Russians say “withdrawal,” the soldiers hear “advance.”

It’s a puzzle, this one.

And what are we going to do about Georgia? What can we do, is perhaps the better question. Several things have become clear, I think:

• We need a bigger military and we need it now. We needed a bigger military before this current mess, and the need is now beyond acute. This will take regular, full-time troops. The National Guard is a great thing, but we have already stretched both it and our regular, full-time force to the limit.
• We need to increase spending on weaponry, and now. Destroyers, aircraft carriers, planes, tanks, and small and medium-sized arms of all kinds. One doesn’t build this stuff overnight.
• Western Europe is going to have to start paying some of the freight for its own defense. As it is, the Europeans couldn’t muster much of a force if they were going to face a firing squad at dawn. And if they could find the troops, finding the stomach to commit them would be another matter entirely.
• Energy is the new soft power and hard power rolled into one neat package. Friends, you heard it here first, we need only wait until the depths of winter to find out that the Russians are awfully good at operating pipeline valves.

The contrast between us and the Russians is all the more clear, too, and sometimes it’s not flattering. The Russians are concerned with power, empire and advancing their interests across every front.

We are concerned about the self-esteem of our youth, about not disturbing the view five miles out for anyone who lives along a coast, and about the latest reality television show.

And while we’re watching this inane television show on a huge flat-screen TV, the Russian tanks roll on.

Let’s just say we’re past the Georgian moment. Clearly, it’s all but over. Can the Prague Spring be far behind? Where will that take place? Ukraine, perhaps?

***

I’m also coming to the idea that Hillary Clinton was onto something with that advertisement about a 3 a.m. telephone call to the White House. It seemed over the top at the time, and surely Barack Obama is as qualified as she is to answer said call.

Well, maybe not. Maybe she would have been the more formidable candidate. It’s going to take a lot more than hope, even an “audacity of hope,” to navigate this mess.