What we knew was coming is now official. The Obama administration is abandoning the ground-based missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Obama administration’s appeasement of Russia continues.
The Wall Street Journal has a good story here.
The costs of this mistake are many.
First, will Central Europe ever again trust that the United States will live up to its agreements? Many Polish and Czech politicians went out on a limb to make this happen, and Obama just sawed it off. The memory of this betrayal will be hard to erase. It is an outrage that “Trust but Verify” must now be applied to the United States. But who can blame the Central and Eastern Europeans.
Second, the Obama administration has given Russia a veto over NATO decisionmaking. Like it or not, that is the impression. That is bad news for NATO allies and potential NATO members like Georgia.
Third, and related to the previous point, it is clear Obama has a very different relationship with Europe than did Bush. Gone are the heady days of summer and fall 2008. In addition to backing out of missile defense, he does not want to extend NATO. The window on additional NATO expansion is closing, and the alliance and Washington may rue the day they let the opportunity slip through their fingers.
Fourth, the administration did this at the same time it is negotiating a follow on to the START strategic arms treaty with the Russians. Even if you decide to make the mistake of giving up this system, why would you do it without getting anything from the Russians?
This stinks to High Heaven. Where are the adults in the national security community? If you don’t care about NATO, it will go away. The U.S., Canada and Europe are far worse off in that world.
Why should any country again trust the United States?
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