Friday, September 18, 2009

Missile defense charade exposed, but nobody cares

Have these people no memory, no conscience, no shame? After how many years of solemnly assuring us (and the rest of the world) that the planned U.S. "missile shield" in Poland and the Czech Republic had nothing at all to do with Russia, and everything to do with a nuclear-armed and missile-happy Iran, (which has never had any nukes or ICMBs, by the way), now that President Obama is rumored to have decided to shelve the stupid idea of a boondoggle, ineffective missile shield in E. Europe which would have only spurred a new nuclear arms race, suddenly all these neocons are finally coming clean and admitting that this had nothing to do with Iran all along, and everything to do with Russia. Which is exactly, by the way, what Russia has been saying all along and we (the United States, under Dubya) had been denying!

I'm no fan of neo-Imperialist Russia, but jeez, at least they are more or less transparent about their cynical, self-serving aims. Whereas we in America have to couch everything in these grandiose, moralistic, world-saving terms that the rest of the world knows are self-serving BS.

Who are these deranged, dangerous people running U.S. foreign policy, and what have they done to our country?!? Thank Allah that Barack Hussein Obama is our president, and not those neocon Dr. Strangeloves who were pushing us towards the brink of nuclear war the past 8 years. But unfortunately, there's not much difference, policy- or ideology-wise, between the disgraced neocons and just about every other unelected, chickenhawk, foreign affairs egghead who writes and runs U.S. foreign policy for our domestic-politics-focused presidents. These discredited nutjobs are in Obama's administration, too, and they continue to haunt the Ivory Towers of U.S. academia and unaccountable, quacky Beltway think tanks.

Get educated and start caring about the world, Americans! Or else pencil-necked geeks from SAIS and Georgetown will continue to successfully advocate all-out U.S. war against the world as the best avenue to world peace and stability, while intellectually insecure U.S leaders continue to listen to their inane advice!


Obama Tosses an Ally Overboard -- and All We Get Zip
By KT McFarland
September 18, 2009 | FOX News

Remember Polish jokes? They're politically incorrect these days, so no one makes them. No one, that is, except President Obama. By cancelling the promised missile shield, he in effect cut Poland loose and threw her to the Russians...70 years to the day after of their brutal invasion of the country. Nice timing.

The missile shield was designed to protect Eastern Europe from the growing Iranian missile threat, which threatens to soon go nuclear. It would have put American military personnel in Russia's backyard, in countries that were until recently part of the Russian empire, and which Russia yearns to control again.
The very thought of this drove the Russians nuts. They would have paid dearly to get it dropped. If Obama was willing to renege on a promise and toss an ally overboard, he should have at least gotten something for it-- like getting Russia to cooperate with us to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program.

What could Obama have traded? He could have gotten the Russians to delay or halt delivery of the state-of-the-art air defense system they've promised Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu went to Moscow recently to plead with them to delay delivery. Once Iran gets the S-300 system, an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites would be nearly impossible.

Obama could have gotten Russia join with us in a gasoline embargo on Iran. Iran imports 40% of its gasoline-- an embargo would force them to the negotiating table, quickly, and leave them ready to make a deal. But an embargo would be toothless if the Russians block it at the U.N., or cheats on it once it's been passed.
Obama could have gotten Russia to stop helping Iran enrich uranium. Without Russian assistance, it will be more difficult and take longer for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

If President Obama had gotten one or more of these concessions, cancelling the missile shield might have made sense, especially if we retained the right to have a ship-based system. But he has apparently cancelled it without extracting anything from Russia, hoping instead that his goodwill gesture would allow us to 'reset' the U.S.-Russian relationship. The administration said there was no "quid pro quo." The Russian Foreign Minister said sanctions against Iran would be a "serious mistake."

President Obama not only threw an ally overboard, he got snookered by the Russians, and just moved us closer a world where the Mad Mullahs have the bomb. If he hasn't learned his World War II history about Poland and the Soviet Union, he may want to read up on what happened to Neville Chamberlain when he tried to curry favor with Hitler.

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