Missile Shields for Peanuts
Posted in Foreign Affairs by Julie Ponzi
Rebeccah Heinrichs gives us a concise overview of the thinking--or lack of thinking, as the case may be--behind the Obama Administration's recent decision to abandon "Third Site" ground missile defense capabilities in Europe and replace them with mobile missile interceptors on Aegis ships. She makes the case that the arguments advanced in favor of this move are disingenuous and, what is worse, based on a dangerous and misleading understanding of America's purposes in the world. While disputing claims that the move could be considered a modernizing upgrade combined with cost-savings, she also argues that Obama's is making a dangerous gamble from a strategic point of view. If our objective was to appear less threatening and, thereby, to invite a less threatening posture from potential adversaries, events do not suggest that our invitation has been accepted.
1:16 AM / September 25, 2009
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Yes, that was a good piece and the Helprin article Heinrichs refers to was just as good as all that. As pete and I have been discussing in another thread, the Obama foreign policy is a puzzle and a worry. The more his domestic policies, like health care, flounder, the more he seems to cater to the Left in other areas. If I weren't so wary of socialized medicine, I would be begging Republicans to cave on that to allow Obama time and mental capacity to think clearly in the other matters.
Not anonymous - me.
Well, while it's theoretically a bit surprising to see an Ashbrook grad (Rebeccah Heinrichs, nee Rebecca Ramey) becoming part of The Problem of Big Government, by working for it, I can't say it's at all surprising to see one working for a Republican (yes, yes, there's a big difference between Republicans and the principled conservatives of Ashbrook, I know!):
https://www.legistorm.com/person/Rebeccah_Heinrichs/19542.html
Nor is it surprising to see an Ashbrooker working for a birther:
https://washingtonindependent.com/57063/rep-trent-franks-i-came-within-three-days-of-launching-an-obama-citizenship-lawsuit
As for the decision about the missiles, the 48% of Poles are happy about it, 31% are not:
https://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/more-polish-than-the-poles.html
And the Czechs - or at least the govt. - didn't seem wholly interested in the radar portion of the plan, either:
https://praguemonitor.com/2009/09/22/russian-analyst-radar-scrapped-due-czechs-obama-not-fault