In what might be the most OBVIOUS statement I've read from a national news source, the slug line for today's headlining story on Fox News says: "President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates say the move was made in large part because the latest intelligence out of Iran showed a greater threat coming from short- and medium-range missiles, and the prior plans were developed with long-range, intercontinental ballistic missiles in mind. Critics disagree." Well... DUH - of course critics disagree... But, let's do a little more digging to find out what some of the people are saying:
Senator John McCain: "This decision calls into question the security and diplomatic commitments the United States has made to Poland and the Czech Republic, and has the potential to undermine perceived American leadership in Eastern Europe." But, I ask: why is it that Republicans only want to INCREASE governmental spending when it is war-related. However, when an administration wants to spend money on its PEOPLE, we are wasting tax-payer dollars? Also - why do we need to be leaders in Europe? Are we a conquering power?
Czech Republic has only pledged 340 soldiers to the fight in Afghanistan (compared to US pledging nearly 30,000 – JUST TO Afghanistan). Poland has pledged only 2,000 (Source: www.Nato.int; ISAF troop contributing nations). These nations are depending our the United States to build and fund missile protecting throughout Europe for a war they are not even supporting on their own. This seems a little counter-intuitive. However, we are a proud country. So, we won’t leave the Europeans empty handed.
Guardian.co.uk reports: “Yevgeny Miasnikov, a senior research scientist at Moscow's Centre for Arms Control, said the US administration would now consider ways of assuaging the Poles and Czechs, which might include providing Poland with Patriot interceptors capable of shooting down short- and medium-range missiles.
‘Obama has taken a step in the direction of improving US-Russian relations. This will definitely help build a partnership,’ Miasnikov said. ‘Russia will also now make some concessions, maybe on strategic talks over nuclear arms reduction or maybe over Iran.
‘Moscowwill try to catalyse the process of improving US-Iranian relations and will facilitate dialogue between the two sides. I don't think threatening Iran is the way to solve this problem.’”
Additionally – we are pledging to continue training and providing Patriot missiles for the Czech Republic and Poland for their safety and defense.
Now – let’s examine the other side of this argument:
Are we backing down? Are we hiding? Are we spending our international political capital (what little we have left) on a hope that there will be some safety and assistance provided by the Kremlin? If so, I think we could all use a history lesson. The Russians have not been historically kind to Americans. Our empires clearly do not make good allies. After the second world war, there was a differing opinion on everything from how to divide post-war Europe for its reconstruction and economic expansion to The Cold War to Russia invading our European Allies. However, over time, we have been driven as a country in no small part due to our strained relationship with Russia.
In 1969, we landed on the Moon. This is not to say we would have never landed on the moon, but we were in a Space Race that culminated with a moment of American Pride that will have a hard time being matched to this day – or any day in the future.
We also learned, as a country, the art of compromise. The Reagan administration worked with the Kremlin to start a new era of peace and help establish trends that we see today.
HOWEVER – all of the marked improvements in our international standing (with Russia or other eastern European states) could all come to a crashing halt if we make mistakes at a critical point in our history. Americans need to know we are working towards a common good – at home and abroad. We need to know our politicians have learned from the mistakes of the past. We need to know that politicians look at issues with tomorrow in mind, not just today. I think once we get to that point, we can then all cast our stones at every idea. Until then, we have to give change an opportunity. Don’t we? Or – are we just heading down the same paths? Stay tuned…
Editor’s note: I have read several very closed-minded points of view so far today, and I think it is interesting that people are so short-sighted. Poland fails to remember that America and Russia BOTH helped liberate them from Hitler’s war regime. Since then, the US has been looked at as an ambassador of peace. We reserve the right to seek our own path.
Until next time...
