“Zakaria: Russia does have a renewed influence in Eastern Europe, and that is definitely a source of concern for both the Poles and the Czechs. And not helping issues is the fact that Moscow had made missile defense into a test of cooperation with Washington. But to continue with a bad policy simply because the Russians don’t like it is not the basis for a sensible strategy for the United States.”

Poland and the Czech Republic took a fair deal of political risk in making the public stand that they would play host to this missile system despite Russia’s vehement opposition, not to mention bluster and veiled threats. They staked their bet on a strong American alliance to help deter any future aggression by a resurgent authoritarian Russia, not just in being part of the missile shield, but also being a good ally to Bush in the War On terror, or Overseas Contingency Operations. Now, this move by the current administration obviously doesn’t mean we are no longer allies, or that we will not help in the case of war, but last year’s invasion of Georgia has already told former eastern block countries all they need to know about the West’s desire to get involved.

The Polish President’s refusal to accept a call from the Secretary of State on this matter is telling, if you ask me. They are pissed off at the snub, and I don’t blame them a bit. Who are we trying to impress here? The people who help us or the people who hinder us?

“Over the last few years, we have made great strides with missile defense, particularly in our ability to counter short-and-medium-range missiles,” he said. “We now have proven capabilities to intercept these ballistic missiles with land-and-sea-based interceptors supported by much-improved sensors. These capabilities offer a variety of options to detect, track and shoot down enemy missiles. This allows us to deploy a distributive sensor network rather than a single fixed site, like the kind slated for the Czech Republic, enabling greater survivability and adaptability.”’

I really hope there is more to this and that I am proved wrong, but the track record of leadership from the left in this country strongly points to the contrary.

No negotiations, nothing. Of course the Russians aren’t going to give him more than a pat on the head.

The tanked economy is just a double whammy as far as defense cuts go. True enough; money is short, but it also serves an an excellent reason/pretest for cutting away as you intended anyway. Not that some of those bloated cost over run monstrosities didn’t need to be made in to object lessons to the remaining defense programs.