Score One For Russia

News is breaking this morning that President Obama has made the decision to kill plans for a missile shield in Europe. I find it interesting that Obama has not made this announcement here in the United States, but rather has told the east European statees that he is backing away from the plans initiated under former President George Bush to install an anti-mission sheild in Poland and the Czech Republic. Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters, "Today, shortly after midnight, Barack Obama telephoned me to announce that his government is backing away from the intention of building a missle defense radar on Czech territory." A senior Polish source told Reuters that Warsaw had received a similar message. An un-named U.S. official stated that the move was made to try to improve the "battered" relations between the U.S. and Russia so that they can work together on Iran and fighting the Taliban.

That sounds somewhat reasonable, right? But how is this perceived in Russia? Already diplomats in Moscow are saying that Russian hardliners will read this move as another sign of weakness of U.S. President Obama. These dipolmats say that rather than cooperating with the U.S. against Iran, they may use this move to regain Russian power in the former Soviet bloc. This missile shield was widely viewed by Poland and the Baltic states as a sybol of U.S. commitment to the defense of that region against any encroachment by the former Soviet masters who seek to reinstall their communist rule. "This would be very bad," said Witold Waszczykowski, the deputy head of Poland's National security. "Without the shield we would defacto be losing a strtegic alliance with Washington."

The timing of this announcement is either very significant or a collasal blunder on the part of Obama. It was 70 years ago today that the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland took place. Waszczykowsi said, "I hope this is just a coincidence." If it is a coincidence, it is a huge blunder on the part of our President. Russia has been making bold threats toward the U.S. ever since this shield was announced, to which President Bush stood strong, assuring Russia that the shield was not directed toward Russia, but as a defense against nuclear attack from Iran and other middle east countries. Obama has caved and handed a major win into the hands of Russia and freeing the way for another Russian take-over.

Another interesting note is that this move will kill a multi-billion dollar defense contract, most likely costing the U.S. hundreds of jobs.

Smooth move President Obama. Smooth move.