I have previously given kudos to the Bam admin for their continuation of Bush policies in India and Africa (despite Hillary Clinton making an ass of herself on her Africa tour and being upbraided over AGW by the Indian PM, Obama spent some time giving a good government lecture to African audiences).
However, today, the administration returned to either their incompetent or nefarious ways by agreeing with the Russians that we don't need a missile defense system based in Poland and The Czech Republic. Seeing as those are the most freedom-loving countries in Eastern Europe, I guess it's apropos that Obama would side with his Russian mentor, Vlad Putin, on this one.
The administration demonstrated their incompetence by making this announcement on the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Talk about bad timing.
However, there is certainly a technical argument to be made that this is the right choice, and the quickest way to get interceptors in place to counter the growing Iranian threat, is to go for a sea-based and mobile ground based solution, vice the planned system. Since this system will rely more on Aegis ships, armed to the gills with interceptors, maybe it'll lead to more ships for our Navy (don't count on it). But, since the Aegis system and our SM3 is proving to be a pretty capable solution, I think in toto, it makes some sense.
Still, there is something to be said for NOT slapping your staunchest European allies around, and not smacking them on a day with historical significance like today. Also, since the system may yet lead to defenses in one/both of these countries, couldn't we have done something like send an Aegis cruiser over there for a symbolic port call? And, why not extract some serious, and public, concession from the Russians?
Hmmmmm????
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