If you don't, look it up. Because you can bet your ass the Russians do. And it doesn't matter much that Bush and Condi say the missile shield is aimed at Iran when Poland says fear of Russia is what moved them to sign onto the pact.
Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister and the government’s point man on missile defense, said in an interview this week, “Parchments and treaties are all very well, but we have a history in Poland of fighting alone and being left to our own devices by our allies.”
It is not a cold war mindset that drives Poland, Mr. Sikorski said, but one that harks all the way back to World War II, when, despite alliances with Britain and France, Poland fought Nazi Germany alone, and lost.
It was “the defining moment for us in the 20th century,” Mr. Sikorski said. “Then we were stabbed in the back by the Soviet Union, and that determined our fate for 50 years.”
As a result, Poland’s foreign policy is stamped by mistrust not only for Russia’s ambitions but also for hollow assurances from its own allies. Georgia’s lonely fight against an overwhelming Russian military served as an object lesson — a refresher that people here said no one needed — on the limits of waiting for help from friends.
“We’re determined this time around to have alliances backed by realities, backed by capabilities,” said Mr. Sikorski, pointing out that all Poland has now in terms of NATO infrastructure is one unfinished conference center.
"Realities," in this case, being missiles and troops based in Poland, capable of defending Poland. Which sounds reasonable...but consider this hypothetical (which is a snarky word for "possibility that will blow up my plans so I refuse to consider it"): suppose Russia decided to base similar missiles in Cuba tomorrow. Would the USofA have a response when each and every statement spoken by Ms. Rice in defense of this pact with Poland is turned to defend this theoretical Rusian/Cuban defense pact?
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I'm not a "military" person.
I'm not a "military" person. Is there no other place where the could've place these missil defence systems that wouldn't have angered the Russians. They had been trying to put it in the Czech Republic, and the Russians balked at that, too.
I guess the Russian thinking is, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."
Just ask WHY. WHY NOW
You're smart, P6. You already know WHY NOW.
WTF is there a media if they won't ask questions like this.
The Missile Mess
Prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis the U.S. had a ring of nuclear equipped missiles surrounding the Soviet Union. The Soviets to place similar weapons in Cuba was a direct result of our weapons being placed around the perimeter of their borders. The Kennedy Administration and the Kremlin made a secret agreement to remove some of these U.S. emplacements as part the deal to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis. Policy makers in this country are quite aware of how the Russians view our actions. We are being needlessly provocative.