Alternatives To Installing An Anti-Missile Defense System Are Now Being Considered

The Czech Republic agreed during the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Romania, April 3 to host tracking radar as part of the U.S. missile defense system. It will be built by 2012, according to the US government, “to protect Europe from a limited, long-range Middle East-based ballistic missile threat.” NATO air-defense radar pictured here is 85 kilometers east of Prague. Source: america.gov

U.S. Mulls Alternatives for Missile Shield -- New York Times

BERLIN — The Obama administration has developed possible alternative plans for a missile defense shield that could drop hotly disputed sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move that would please Russia and Germany but sour relations with American allies in Eastern Europe.

Administration officials said they hoped to complete their months-long review of the planned antimissile system as early as next month, possibly in time for President Obama to present ideas to President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia at a meeting in New York during the annual opening at the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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My Comment: The key phrase in this article is the following ....

“It is clear that Eastern Europe is out of the epicenter of this American administration,” said Piotr Paszkowski, a spokesman for Poland’s foreign minister.

President Obama's administration is focused elsewhere, and Eastern Europe is completely out of the picture. Leaks to the media have already established the reasons why the White House will pursue this new direction .... budget escalations and proof to the Russians that the U.S. is committed to improving relations.

The result of abdicating its agreements with Eastern Europe will (however) be far reaching. (1) The Russians are not going to give the Obama administration any quid pro quo. In fact, they will perceive this as a weakness on the part of the U.S., and will resume putting even more pressure on neighboring countries like The Ukraine and Georgia. (2) Eastern Europe will not trust any future agreements with the Obama administration. (3) Relocating and developing alternatives (from scratch) will be more expensive and time consuming. (4) Countries in Eastern Europe are stable allies. The Balkans and Turkey are not.

My prediction .... the Obama administration will throw our Eastern European allies under the bus, and will pursue alternative anti-missile programs that will take more time and be more expensive. Countries that neighbor Russian will take this as a sign that the U.S. is scaling back support for them, and that they must now look for alternative arrangements .... arrangements that will only increase insecurity and instability in the entire region.