What's your game?

When the former Soviet Union collapsed, and Russia began making moves to becoming a free-market economy, much of the world let out a sigh of relief. Alas, as the current situation in Georgia illustrates, history did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As I have been following the news reports on the crisis, one question creeped into my mind – do you play Chess or Poker?

I have attempted to teach my 7 year-old the rudiments of both games. I play both, and not very well, I might add. On occasion, he has beaten me, which really comes as no surprise.

My reason for doing this is not to turn him into Garry Kasparov, or supplement our family income with some online gambling winnings. These games, I contend, teach lessons that extend beyond the play itself. Both are admittedly games of skill and strategy, where the victor is often the one who can outsmart and outmanoever their opponent.

In Chess, players match each other, move for move, until one finds a weakness to exploit, and eventually ‘checkmate’ is declared. In Poker, however, the deal of the cards determines your strategy, as well as the undisclosed deal of your opponents. Unlike chess, the weakness is found not in the position of pieces on a board, but in the look of confidence, or lack thereof, in your opponents eyes.

So what does this have to do with the ongoing crisis in Georgia? Plenty, I would argue.

The Russians are, admittedly, the best chess players in the world. The game is widely popularized there, and most of its world champions from that country. On the other hand, Americans have done similarly with poker. You are as likely to find a group of Americans playing a game of poker as you will a group of Muscovites playing chess in a park. Poker sites inundate the Internet, while poker tournaments are now covered on US television as sport.

If you really take the time to look deeply into international relations, you can see that Russians play geopolitics like a game of Chess, and Americans approach it like a high stakes game of Texas Hold ‘Em. Their current, respective actions in Georgia seem to bear this out.

Russia, sensing a weakness in the opponent’s strategy, moved a pawn into a neighbouring square – in the guise of ‘peacekeepers’. The calculation, of course, is that with pieces tied up on the squares near Afghanistan and Iraq, their opponent cannot move a piece to block, lest they leave their King exposed.

Today, George Bush has announced that he was directing US forces to provide a ‘vigorous and sustained humanitarian effort’ to Georgia – one that involved air and naval forces. This is the equivalent of moving a stack of $100 chips into the centre of the table and declaring “I’ll see your ‘peacekeepers,’ and I’ll raise ya some ‘relief workers’…”

Each side is now playing a game according to rules that suit their demeanour and sensibilities. They are, in effect, playing to both their strengths, and the other's weaknesses.

This means that the future of Georgia, and possibly the broader international community, will hinge on whether the US is better at poker than the Russians are at chess.

Maybe we'd all be better off betting on the ponies...