A Wise Presidential Decision

Kudos to President Obama, his closest advisors and the Pentagon for deciding to scrap plans for a so called Missile Defense System based in Poland and the Czech Republic to "defend U.S. and allied positions and interests" against a hypothetic ballistic missile attack from Iran or North Korea.

These plans were part of the Bush-era preemptive and asymmetrical war scenario doctrines and were a contentious and thorny issue with Russia. So much so that U.S.-Russia relations regressed alarmingly during the Bush years to just a notch below Cold War status.

Russia feared –with plausible though disingenuous justification– that the system could be used against Russia itself at any given moment. It would have also signified –symbolically and geopolitically- the undeniable and openly defiant entry of the United States into Russia's own 'backyard' and 'natural' sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.

The governments of Poland and the Czech Republic have voiced concern and disappointment for this decision, though the Polish and Czech peoples were largely opposed to these plans for radar and missile deployment in their respective territories. They worried about the political, economic and military reprisals that a resentful and menaced Russian Federation could take against their governments for allowing such deployments.

NATO, Russia, the European Union and other world governments have expressed relief and have offered support for the measure. The governments of Britain, France and Germany –all NATO members and U.S. allies– have also issued public statements of support and praise for this decision.

Republicans in Capitol Hill, as expected, are hailing the change in foreign policy as a de facto 'capitulation' and a signal of 'weakness' towards Russia... I question how these very same Congresspeople would react if Russia were to announce missile system deployments –already happened in 1962– in Cuba, Mexico, Canada, or even Venezuela or Nicaragua... Or, further yet: is the United States willing to damage its all important global geopolitical relation with the Russian Federation or even willing to risk a nuclear exchange with Russia over Iran, Poland or the Czech Republic?

I don't think so. And neither do those very few and powerful supranational interests that move the threads and pieces of international relations and current global Realpolitik.