Making Friends, Making Enemies

I don't blame the Czechs and Poles for feeling a little betrayed at the Obama administration's decision to pull the plug on the Eastern Europe missile defense shield. And even though it didn't convince the Russians to help us put the squeeze on the nearly-nuclear Iranians, this backtrack did solicit a limp-wristed response from the Russians, who had been vehemently opposed to the missile shield in the first place.

The thing is: the mere fact that Russia would object to a purely defensive missile system makes their motives suspect. The only reason for the Russians being so upset at an antimissile system in a neighboring countries is that they may want to attack that neighbor someday. It's like me buying an assault rifle because the guy across the street put in a burglar alarm.

And the fact that the missile defense system was originally unpopular in these countries makes taking it out now all the worse, the governments of these countries worked hard to sell this defense to their people, now they look like fools. And on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland? Does the White House own a calendar? Tacky.

Russia may not be openly belligerent to the west, but they are no friend, and will not be in the near future. Low oil prices are the only thing keeping them from being a royal pain in the arse right now. And this defense system wasn't intended to protect against the paranoid Russians anyway, it was to defend Europe against Iranian and other rogue state ballistic missiles. And now that we have jerked around until Iran can tip those missiles with a nuke or two, the Obama administration seems to think those are no longer a threat. One has to hope they are right.

Nolanbuck