Too bad to check: Obama ready to cancel European missile defense shield?

Just a rumor for now, but big enough to warrant a preemptive bloggy uproar in case the die has yet to be cast.

According to reliable sources, Obama administration officials are on their way to Poland and the Czech Republic to deliver very bad news. The administration intends to cancel completely the missile defense sites that had been promised to these governments by the previous administration. This represents a complete capitulation to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who had demanded that the proposed deployments be halted as a price for improved relations. Ironically, the Obama administration, which is appeasing Russia in the hopes that Moscow will help put pressure on Iran, has made this mammoth concession just a few days after Moscow declared that it had no intention of supporting sanctions against Iran.

The consequences of this action in Eastern Europe, especially in Ukraine and in other countries that feel vulnerable to Russian power, will be disastrous. It is a major American retreat in the face of Russian bullying. And we will get absolutely nothing for it.

This comes five days after Russia reportedly told The One that he could forget about them agreeing to any new sanctions on Iran. Is that what we’re getting in return for kneecapping our eastern European allies — Russia’s agreement to a new round of economic penalties that won’t remotely convince Tehran to give up its nuke program? Or are we not getting even that? How about having Russia change its mind about creating the very same crisis in Venezuela that it’s helped to create in Iran? Do we get that at least? I can stomach, barely, the idea of selling out American allies if we’re getting something of overwhelming value to the United States in return, like Iranian disarmament. What are we getting here, aside from Vladimir Putin’s warm compliments? This is the same deal we made with Chavez on Honduras, i.e. abandoning an ally simply to prove to the cretins of the world that the Obama era will be different from the Bush one.

I hope it’s not true. Just like I hope it’s not true, as Newsweek is claiming, that U.S. intel still seriously believes Iran isn’t working on a bomb. European intelligence agencies have been laughing at that claim for years, from the British back in 2007 to Nicolas Sarkozy just this morning. In fact, as I’ve mentioned a bunch of times on HA previously, the very same NIE that claimed Iran had stopped its bomb program also claimed that it had 10-15 secret nuclear sites devoted to god knows what. The Newsweek piece smells like spin leaked by the administration to buy Obama some more time with the public for Iran negotiations, just like Israel’s threat of having to attack before December unless heavy sanctions are imposed is spin the other way. Exit question: If Iran’s such a serious threat, what’s The One doing taking Europe’s missile defense shield away?

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