More on Poland and Czech

I wrote a post yesterday about the Obama administration's decision to cancel the radar sites in Poland and Czech. These sites would be part of an anti-missile defense system to protect Eastern and Western Europe from attack.

There are more repercussions today. Polish & Czech headlines are as follows:
"No Radar, Russia Won" - largest Czech daily
"Betrayal! The US Sold Us to Russia!" - Fakt, a Polish Tabloid

And an editorial in Czech newspaper Hospodarske Novine said:
"an ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid."

We must also remember that these two countries have very recent experience of being sold down the river. The Sudeten portion of Czechoslovakia was given to the Nazis by hopeful appeaser Neville Chamberlain in 1938. Later Germany occupied the remaining part of the country with no action except for weak protests from Chamberlain.

And let us not forget the August 21, 1968 when Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks rolled through Czechoslovakia to crush anti-communist reforms. President Lyndon Johnson took no action except for weak protests to the United Nations.

Poland was divided by the Nazis and the Soviets in 1939 and the Soviets ruled Poland under an iron fist until 1990.

You might be saying, "So what? That all happened over 50 years ago." True, but Russia is becoming more and more belligerent. In 2008 Russia invaded the sovereign country of Georgia, a former member of the Soviet Union (birthplace of dictator Joseph Stalin). This conflict essentially started when Ossetian rebels began bombarding the rest of Georgia with rockets. The Russians clearly believe they have every right to invade its neighbors and do not worry about world reaction.

Two last points:

First, Candidate Obama campaigned on the promise that he would improve our image in the world. Does this action do that? We've heard the reaction from Poland and the Czechs. I can imagine the reaction in Iran and Russia is joyful and gloating, like a bully who successfully challenges a stronger, bigger kid who doesn't have the guts to stand up to him.

Second point: When the Nazis invaded Poland, the appeaser Neville Chamberlain was still prime minister of England. But at least that appeaser had to recognize the truth and England declared war on Germany, as did France, and honored its commitment to Poland.

I wonder whether our president has even as much backbone as Neville Chamberlain.