Understanding Government

Barack Obama is not following through on George W. Bush’s plan to build missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Peter Spiegel. One can spend today, and probably the next month, reading about the myriad political/diplomatic implications this has in regard to the U.S. relationship with NATO, Poland, the Czechs, Russia and Iran. But a couple of things to keep in mind: Iran — the country the shield is supposed to defend against — has demonstrated no ability to fire a long-range missile that would hit East Europe. If Iran is, in fact, a nuclear threat it is from their short-range missiles and so Obama is right to want a missile shield closer to Iran. Also, there is strong scientific evidence that missile defense would fail to intercept a missile.

Given the severe unlikelihood that the technology will ever exist for A.) a missile attack by Iran and B.) a successful interception of that missile, the missile shield issue is a pointless exercise in antagonizing other countries. Maybe Obama recognizes this — he is making the most of Bush’s silly plan by comforting Russia that the shield won’t be placed in two former Soviet nations.