Posted on 09/19/2009 10:10:22 AM PDT by Steelfish
September 18, 2009
A Masterstroke of Weakness In international diplomacy, there’s a cringing desperation to Obama.
By Rich Lowry
If diplomatic pusillanimity was the aim, Pres. Barack Obama’s decision to abandon our current missile-defense plans in Eastern Europe must be regarded as a masterstroke.
With just one announcement, the Obama administration undercut two loyal allies, rewarded Russian bullying, and diminished our ability to counter an emerging Iranian threat. If there were awards for self-defeating weakness, this move would deserve a Neville for Appeasement in a Perpetually Threatened Region.
In an April speech in Prague, Obama hailed the “courageous” Poles and Czechs for agreeing to host ten missile interceptors and a radar site, respectively. When the Czechs signed the initial deal for the radar installation last July, a suspiciously timed “technical difficulty” reduced Russian gas exports to Prague by half. Last November, Russia moved missiles to Kaliningrad, bordering Poland. Now, Polish and Czech courage gets its perverse reward.
The Russians loathe the very idea of the missile-defense sites, claiming they threaten its nuclear deterrent. They never explain how ten interceptors can counteract a Russian arsenal totaling 4,100 warheads. Vladimir Putin can’t be that bad at math.
What Moscow doesn’t want is a relationship between Central and Eastern Europe and the West that makes the region less vulnerable to its malign influence.
Perhaps hardheadedness says an attachment to the pro-U.S, democratic Poles and the Czechs shouldn’t outweigh our interest in placating Russia. But this is realpolitik without the real. There’s no indication that Obama struck a secret deal with Moscow for anything meaningful.
He appears to be acting out of the kindness of his heart a week after Russia said it wouldn’t support tough sanctions against Iran or a timetable for progress on checking Iran’s nuclear program.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Is ANYONE surprised???
Hopefully free countries like Honduras, Poland and the Czecks can fend off the enemy until we fend them off here.
No. But I wanted to be. I hope that one day the Dear Leader will get the taste of his own medicine.
I don’t claim to know everything about zero’s new plan, but it seem to be very inefficient. Won’t it cost more to maintain a fleet of missile-carrying ships that are at sea 24/7 than to maintain a few land-based sites?
Plus, aren’t ships inherently more vulnerable to attack because the attacks can come from anywhere, and the oceans are a vast area that can’t be secured?
Not to mention, because the ships are further away from interception targets, it will take longer for the missiles to reach their targets, further reducing accuracy?
My biggest concern is that if zero, or any of his brain-dead leftists minions, thought of this plan it is obviously flawed.
Even the old troll on NPR had nothing good to say about Zero’s policy with the Russians, Iran and N.Korea this AM.
I listened to get my BP up to normal.
Tick,tick,tick,tick.....3.5 more years of this dangerous administration. Will we make it to Jan.20th,2013 without a major world military event? How many ways has O disabled our defenses already? He goes after our own guys in the CIA! He IS the enemy.We were taken over from within without a shot being fired, just like the old communists said would happen.
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