WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday.
Read the whole thing here.
So Russia gets aggressive, seeks to restore the old Soviet empire, and Barak responds by abandoning the defense of Europe. Not only is this a betrayal of Eastern Europe, it renders all of the continent more vulnerable to Russian intimidation. And then the administration has the gall to try to portray this as getting tough with the Russians, making them put up or shut up on Iran.
Sheesh!
What it shows is that the much derided "missile shield" is likely to be a far more effective defensive program than the Democrats have heretofore been willing to say. Russia has already admitted such with its intense opposition to the shield and threats to target Eastern Europe. Now Democrats are admitting such by offering the shield deployment as a bargaining chip.
The message to the new democracies of Eastern Europe is that the United States is an unreliable partner. Obama sees them as pawns and is willing to trade their security for a pittance.
Obama is incredibly naive if he expects Russia to actually take a hard line against Iran. Putin's thugs have far too many interests in the region for that to happen. And what makes Obama think that such a union would be effective in influencing Iran. Russia doesn't control the mullahs. What is far more likely is an American backdown that is not reciprocated on the part of either Russia and Iran who will continue to cooperate against the U.S.
This is sheer folly, but then Bush also thought Putin was someone he could work with. Eventually Bush recognized the folly of trying to enlist Russia in a global security arrangement, let us hope Obama wises up quickly. Right now his proposal is a lose-lose proposition for the West.
UPDATE:
Russia tells Obama to stuff it. From Drudge [here].
