What missile defense shield?

I really didn’t want this to be a political blog.  God knows there are enough of those out there in www.land.  Honestly, I’m not even qualified to give my opinion on most of the political rhetoric anyway.  I just wanted this to be a blog where I could come to voice my opinion about some of the crazy stuff going on in the world today.  Turns out that political craziness is leading the pack.

Anyway, as I read the news this morning and saw that President Obama had abandoned plans to build the European missile defense shield, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness for our allies.  Allies who are working with us on the war against terror and who were anticipating our assistance, and who with the flick of his pen, our President made the snap decision to let down.

I understand that his decision was probably financially motivated (has he made any decisions that weren’t financially motivated?) but seriously, there are more important things to worry about besides money.   One thing would be the safety of our allies and that of our family and friends who are abroad, as well as our military.  So, Obama is trying to save money? Why now? After all the money he’s spent so far since he’s been in office, why even worry about more expenditures?

Perhaps Obama’s decision wasn’t financially motivated.  Maybe he believes that by halting the missile defense shield program, the Russians will soon worship him like the liberal sheep in America seem to do (and no, I’m not racist).  And maybe he thinks when he has Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev in his pocket, we will all congratulate him for improving Russian relations.  Could he really be that misguided in his beliefs?  Who knows.  While Obama and the Russians are celebrating together today, the rest of the European community feels abandoned and left behind.

Seriously, the shield probably wasn’t needed anyway and yeah, we will save a ton of money by not constructing it – but at what cost?  Is saving billions really worth losing the support of two of our most-loyal NATO allies, all the while encouraging rogue nations to advance in directions that could have potentially grave consequences?  The Kremlin may be celebrating today but does anyone really know what they have in mind for the future?  If this move makes them perceive us as a weak nation, does Obama really believe that the Russians will support us in our fight against the Iranian nuclear threat?

On behalf of the people in the US that don’t support President Obama’s decision today, I would just like to apologize to our friends in the Czech Republic and Poland.  I hope our president’s decision today doesn’t put too much of a strain on our good relations, and I really hope he follows through with his promise to develop alternative (and cheaper) methods of preventing missile attacks.

In the wise words of Henry Kissinger, “We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are.“

In case you missed it, here is Senator McCain’s take on the issue.