Missile Shields are Going Up Behind Our Back(yard)

A wave of détente, the French word for "relaxation" referring to military tensions, seemed to have set in almost instantly after President Obama announced that he would not pursue the Bush administration's missile shield plan. The "scrapping" or "shelving" of the shield, as it was called, was planned shortly after he was elected and may have been a major contributing factor to him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the short months since, the Obama administration has made a U-turn on the matter, evidencing a duplicity on U.S. missiles placed worldwide matched only by the hundreds of failures of "covert" CIA operations globally over the past half century. How?

A missile shield is going up behind our back and in our backyard, even if it isn't called that (or anything else for that matter), making the U.S. look like it's two-timing even countries who still want the missiles, meaning money and security, precisely the image Obama was elected to change. Where?

Eastern Europe, just like the Bush planned proposed, except Obama is taking a piecemeal approach less visible on the radars of the general public. The Bush approach, in contrast, was a publicity stunt that (characteristically) backfired. Will Obama's?

Early last December, the U.S. and Poland reached a deal for the former Soviet satellite to host U.S. missiles and military personnel. The Czech Republic, another country Bush had planned to include in the missile shield and "shelved" by Obama, was then courted by him. Around the same time, Turkey turned down a proposition from Obama himself. Earlier this month, Romania announced its readiness to host U.S. missiles in its territories, both on land and at sea. There are others in the works, including current talks with Bulgaria, all of which are to be set up by 2015.

The reasoning behind the missile shield going up behind our back and in our backyard is still that the West needs a deterrent for a nuclear missile-enabled North Korea and/or Iran. If you remember, they along with Iraq, formed part of Bush's infamous "axis of evil." That goes to show how far U.S. international relations have come: the catchphrases may have been shed or changed, but the mindsets for the most part remain. But the most pressing danger is what Obama's "missile thingy" will do to relations with Russia.

Had it not been for threats, both economic and military, by Russia against potential missile shield hosts, the Bush plan probably would have gone through. Picking its fights more wisely, that is smaller and more secretively, Obama has made more headway along exactly the same lines, pushing Russia closer to China and Iran, exactly where the U.S. doesn't want them to be.

The fact that it is taking more skillful steps for Obama to get exactly where Bush wanted to go may also apply to Iraq and Afghanistan, "scrapping" his promises during the campaign, and with them his military-related integrity both at home and abroad.

Photo credit: taberandrew