Blue v Red

Posted on 20. Sep, 2009 by Maria Clark in Uncategorized

Well I was going to talk to you all about Paterson. And if I weren’t always scrounging for something to write about last minute I might have made that deadline. So in my attempt to avoid the constant topic of race and Obama I shall talk to you about anti- ballistic missile shields. Or now…the lack there of?

Rather than continue with Bush’s original defense shields plan that would have been effective starting in 2018 and expensive, Obama has now proposed the development of a “system designed to shoot down short- and medium-range Iranian missiles.” The decision has resulted  in a public outcry from conservatives and many pollacks alike claiming that the U.S. is now leaving Eastern Europe vulnerable to Russia. Members of congress said last week that this move would only empower Russia at the “expense of US allies.”Is this a power play that might once and for all endear Russia to us. Will Obama’s sudden decision leave this country at the whims of Mother Russia once again as Fox News reported last week…haha.

Two nights ago, after first reading about Obama canceling the Bush era plans for anti missile defense shields in Eastern Europe, I decided to get a Polish friend’s perspective on the subject.Well my amigo agreed with the move to an extent. Although he’s not worried about the iron curtain being drawn across Europe once again, he said that the move just might isolate Poles who feel that their heavy military presence in Iraq warrants U.S. funded protection from those pesky nukes over in Iran. However, he argued, the project as originally designed by Bush would have been too expensive and wouldn’t have been implented until 2018 according to an op ed piece by Robert Gates in today’s Times.

Who knows this might just be a  major power play as many suspect to get Russia on our side. It also might be as Gates argued a more pragmatic method of providing defense in Europe without the delay and costs that would have accrued with the previous plan. I can’t really this is going to pave the foundation of another Cold War. Unfortunately things are more complicated than this Black and White or rather the Red v. Blue scenario. And I hope we are past the axis of evil scenario that really did throw us back to the Red Scare days.

I think that along with this move Obama should have required Russia to adhere to the oil embargo against Iran as well as refrain from providing them with materials so that they can further develop their nuclear arsenal. However advanced that might be. Years after Bush first proposed the anti ballistic missile shields, Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe would have remained unprotected. What Gates outlined in his Op Ed was a plan that not only would protect all of Europe from the nuclear threat rising out of Iran, but would do so a lot sooner.