President Obama can never do something right without following it with an ill-advised action. Just the other day, I was congratulating the president for the successful operation in Somalia. But today, reports indicate that Obama will abandon our missile defense plans in Eastern Europe.
The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move likely to cheer Moscow and roil the security debate in Europe.This action is yet another example of Obama's inexperience and naivete in foreign policy matters, one of the many reasons that someone with his minimal qualifications should never have been elected president.
The U.S. will base its decision on a determination that Iran's long-range missile program hasn't progressed as rapidly as previously estimated, reducing the threat to the continental U.S. and major European capitals, according to current and former U.S. officials.
So that means we are going to wait until it actually is a serious threat before deploying defensive measures. That's some brilliant national security thinking -- about what I'd expect from a Democrat. But let's pretend that the administration's lame explanations for abandoning hard won plans for missile defense in the region are actually accurate, instead of just fables covering its obvious preference for empty talk and wishful thinking over concrete security measures. Instead of scrapping deployment unilaterally, why not at least use it as a bargaining chip to extract some serious concessions from the Russians? Instead, Obama is just going to project his usual weakness, hand Putin a victory on a silver platter, alienate our friends in Eastern Europe, and demonstrate yet again that we can't be trusted to follow through on security arrangements.
First off, I'm gonna give Obama and our JCS the benefit of the doubt and believe that this new missile plan has merit. But in terms of the overall policy....
ReplyDeleteYour final two points are what bother me the most about this policy move: 1. Alienate allies 2. Another serious nat security change from previous administrations.
Concerning the 2nd point, though this weakness is inherent in the democratic system, I am starting to get very discouraged that other states, governments, intelligence agencies will have no trust in the status quo when a new administration comes in for now on. This could/will have damaging effects which will probably be very difficult to measure.
Regarding the alienating our allies, this is just sad. The people and governments of Czech and Poland their necks out for us and we have now left even barer. It's hard to find more natural and loyal allies than these Eastern European states. In the near future, Russia will never be our friend and is likely to obstruct our interests wherever they can, that's just what Moscow does. Why not further cement our good relations with these Eastern European states? Alas, I hope that other security partnerships can be worked out with the US and Czech and Poland.
It's debatable whether deploying a missile defense system in Eastern Europe was ever a good idea. But once we commit to something that involves allied nations, we need to follow through, unless there is a really good reason not to.
ReplyDeleteEven if there is a good reason, the unilateral nature of our action is just stupid. It's like Obama is hoping to curry favor with the Russians. But all they will see is weakness. Obviously the Russians strongly oppose any sort of U.S. presence in Eastern Europe. That made our missile defense plans a major bargaining chip. Why just throw it away for no return? It's not like we have that much leverage with the Russians that we can afford to ignore opportunities.
Yawn.
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