Obama scraps missile defense
It’s easy to develop a foreign policy when your only guide is to do the exact opposite of your predecessor. That seems to be the Obama Administration’s plan. Czech and Polish governments have announced that the Obama Administration told them that he’s abandoning the Bush missile defense installations in those countries to coddle the Russians according to the Washington Post/AP;
Under the plan, which had been proposed by the Bush administration to defend the United States and its European allies against a possible missile attack from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East, 10 interceptor rockets were to have been stationed in Poland and a radar system based in the Czech Republic.
But Russia was livid over the prospect of having U.S. interceptor rockets in countries so close to its territory, and the Obama administration has sought to improve strained ties with the Kremlin.
A top Russian lawmaker praised the move.
“The U.S. president’s decision is a well-thought and systematic one,” said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. “It reflects understanding that any security measure can’t be built entirely on the basis of one nation.”
A rational person has to wonder why the Russians are so concerned about a DEFENSE system. Of course, it was defense systems that broke the Soviet Union in the first place, wasn’t it?
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Foreign Policy
The Russians supposedly felt threatened by this DEFENSIVE system because they fear the payload launch vehicle could be quickly converted into ICBMs. All of the current tests of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) use Minuteman II boosters.
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Regardless of the Russian reasoning you never ever cut and run from an ally.
http://nygoe.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/barack-obama-cuts-and-runs-from-poland-and-czech-republic/
Well, Obama just sold out Poland, the Czech Republic, and even Georgia. If they never trust the US again, I couldn’t blame them. They are now under the policy dictates of Russia, once again, and it only took 20 short years.
The Russians now have free reign over Europe. They control the energy going to Europe (oil and natural gas) because they control the pipelines. The one they didn’t, because it didn’t go through Russian territory, they set up a “break away” province inside Georgia and then invaded on trumped up allegations in order to take control of it.
That was the first indication that Obama didn’t care, because he was a quivering puddle for 3 days before he commented on the invasion. Although I’m not a big McCain fan, it took him 3 seconds to respond.
Eastern Europe now knows exactly where they stand with the US under Obama, and that’s under the bus.
My take is here:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/obama-screws-our-eastern-european-allies/
Congratulations, Obama. You’ve added another item to your “stupid” column.
And, now we’re what? Making enemies of our allies? Brilliant move, COWboy. He makes me ashamed to face my friends living in those countries.
You’re a SFB and so are the people who voted for you and fyi, CYA. There’s gonna be more shit hitting the fan and you aren’t going to be the second teflon prez.
I haven’t said this before and I might lose a few points with the man upstairs, but, FUCK YOU, sir and the Chicago waste machine you rode in on.
While I am no fan of Obama’s current foreign policy or the general policy of the Clinton crowd that seems to have involved itself in pulling many of the strings lately, I cannot say I fault Obama on this one.
I mean the Russians have been fighting many of the same assholes in Chechnya, the Caucasus, and the various Stans that we have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They could have been a semi-reliable ally against the Wahhabi Islamist gang. Not saying they would have been our new best friends, but they would have been a hell of alot more help than some of our current “allies”. Besides, I have seen no evidence indicating Putin to be a Communist. A strident nationalist, yes. Communist, I don’t think so.
So with that out of the way, I really just don’t see the point in spending billions of dollars that we don’t have on a defense shield that will unnecessarily antagonize the Russians while at the same end providing little or no benefit to our national security. I agree with you guys on many issues, but this time I don’t think so.
Good job, O: after Bush did all the heavy-lifting and diplomatic shenanigans to get it to the point it was at, you literally reset us to zero so that when your successor (coming to a West Wing near you in 2012) shows up to reinstate it, we can go through the entire dance *again* w/ Russia et al.
Well, Fred, it’s like this: Obama just sold out the Poles and Czechs for what? The Georgians are in the same boat. It’s not about antagonizing the Russians, it’s the Russians seeing how far they can push Obama. The Russian’s invaded Georgia on a trumped up excuse of “protecting a seperatist region of Georgia”, when in fact, they wanted to have control of the only pipeline from the region that they didn’t control and it just so happens that it ran through Georgia. Now the Russians control all the faucets that feed Europe. Convenient, huh?
That they are throwing a fit about “defensive” measures should be a red flag, literally. They were watching the responses from our candidates, when they invaded, to see who would blink. Well, the quivering puddle that is Obama looked to be extremely weak. Now he’s our President and they know he’s a pussy, because they watched him go on the world fallatio tour and they treated him like their bitch when he was in Europe.
This is all about power projection and they now know that they can pull policy dictates over Eastern Europe once again, because Obama won’t do anything but send strongly worded letters. It only took 20 years and a weak US President for them to start putting the Iron Curtain back together.
Old Trooper
We also have to consider the other side of the coin here. The Wahhabis, with full Saudi support, gave the Russians all kinds of problems in places like Chechnya and the Stans. There are those in Russia whom think we had something to do with that.
Besides, I am not putting that much faith into the Oil Pipeline story at the moment. It is rather convenient that the Russians now control every pipeline in Europe, but there are issues regarding Saakashvili’s having a hot head and various ethnic tensions returning to the forefront following the collapse of Communism. The Russian military was also in need of a major victory.
That and I’d say the return of the Iron Curtain talk is still quite premature. To me, Putin looks like a Russian nationalist strongman vice a Communist whom wants to assert Russian influence in their back yard, which is basically what Russians leaders were before the Bolsheviks came to power.
Of course I also have to wonder whom appointed us as the guardian protectors of Europe. The USSR posed a clear and present threat to the National Security of the United States. By and large, I would say that the current Russian regime does not pose such a threat at the moment. That could change in the future, but I can think of places that do pose a threat right now that we should be much more concerned about.
As far as weak Presidents go, I can’t say I disagree with you there. Of course I would say that 3 consecutive weak presidents(Clinton, Bush, Obama) is what got us to the point we are at now.
Fred: While I agree with most of your premise, I will have to say you left out the biggie for the Russians: Power Projection. Even if the Russian military isn’t as strong as in days past, they want to give the perception that they are just as strong, now, as they used to be. The countries of Eastern Europe came to us and we were interested in setting up partnerships with them, so that we could establish forward bases to use against terrorists and rogue nations.
If you have looked at the pictures coming out of Russia, featuring Vlad Putin on vacation, you would notice the marked difference from what the world sees when Obama is on vacation. Putin is portrayed as doing rugged, manly activities, while Obama is shown doing…..what? The Russians are looking at strength and projecting a powerful attitude, while Obama is putting on the kneepads for every dictator and third world despot on the planet.
That’s what the rest of the world is looking at: Rugged vs. metrosexual. Who do you think they are more afraid of?
Old Trooper: I can’t disagree that Putin is putting on the better display of strength than Obama. But in all reality, Putin is stronger and almost certainly smarter than Obama. You don’t get as far as he did in the KGB without being tough and possessing intelligence and street smarts. Although given Russia’s recent issues with the Wahhabis, I don’t think we can fault them for going out of their way to project themselves as being strong and powerful. As Putin himself said following Beslan, “The Weak get Beaten.”
Now on one hand, we could use more allies in Eastern Eurpoe and potential bases would be an added plus. But on the other hand, the Russians have their own issues with Islamists and our actions might take their focus off of killing Wahhabis, which we most certainly would not want to do. Besides, we should ask ourselves who is better at killing Wahhabis? Europe or the Russians? I’d say the Russians.
When it comes to the missile shield, I personally see it as both a big waste of money and a symptom of a major disconnect regarding priorities. I personally see unsecured borders, lax port security, and Wahhabi mosques as much more dangerous to both the US’s and Europe’s national security than an Iranian missile.
When it comes to us having weak leaders whom bow to tyrants, I won’t argue with that assertion. Of course I can’t say I see any real solution to that problem on the horizon. Obama may be very bad in that regard, but Clinton and Bush II had issues of their own in terms of bowing to tyrants and failing to pull the trigger on bad guys.