Obama Sells Out Eastern Europe, Emboldens Iran

I cannot say I'm surprised that President Obama scrapped missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic.  He's been trying to mollify the Russians since the election campaign when he played the moral equivalency card when Russian troops went into Georgia last year.  Appeasing authoritarian Russia at the expense of democratic Eastern Europe sends a very bad message indeed.

Aside from selling out Eastern Europe, Obama is lulling us into a false sense of security. One factor in the abandonment of this project was predicated on the assumption that Iran doesn't have long range missile capacity.  This is not an assumption I would be prepared to make.  It also might have the unintended consequence of forcing Israel's hand because a missile defense system in Europe was the one deterrent we had. Simply put, if Israel launches a preemptive strike against Iran it will be a direct consequence of Obama abandoning his allies in Eastern Europe. But what can one expect of an American foreign policy that rewards our enemies and punishes our friends?