In one of the most stunning betrayals of modern diplomacy, Barack Obama announced yesterday that the United States is abandoning Poland and the Czech Republic. They are on their own against Russia.
And in what could not have been a coincidence, he did it on the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland. An invasion that led to two generations of Polish slavery and the widespread slaughter of Polish citizens.
Ronald Reagan won the Cold War. Barack Obama lost it. The first bricks of the new Berlin Wall have been laid.
Here’s the background.
As the countries of central and eastern Europe emerged from a half-century’s domination by the Soviet Union, many of them sought to ally themselves with the United States. Why? Because they believed in freedom, because they believed that the United States stood for liberty.
And because centuries of history and culture have taught them that Russia is their enemy. In that part of the world, history has always been about one group conquering another group, and the aggressor has almost always been Russia. That giant nation has made a centuries-long habit of smashing smaller nations.
Like Poland and the Czech Republic. So we promised to protect them.
Specifically, we promised to give them the technology to defend themselves against the Russian nuclear missiles that even now are aimed at them. The purpose of the missile shield was to protect the Poles and the Czechs from Russian missiles.
Yesterday, the president and vice president said that the purpose of the missile shield was to protect those two nations from Iranian nukes. But Iran has never shown the slightest ill will toward either the Poles or the Czechs. Russia, on the other hand, has devastated them both more than once.
The George W. Bush commitment to put a missile shield over Poland and the Czech Republic was a warning to Russia that it should stay on its side of the fence. By taking away the threat of Russian nuclear missiles, the shield bought some breathing room for the Poles and Czechs.
And why would we want to do that? Because of freedom.
In 1968, something called the Prague Spring took place, when Czechoslovakia – a Soviet subordinate since the end of World War 2 – tried to give its citizens some measure of freedom. Some bans on the free press were eased, some rights to personal free speech were granted, some ability to travel to different parts of the country to visit relatives was allowed.
The Russians sent in tanks and the tiny country was crushed.
Poland was the champion of liberty and took the steps that began the toppling of the dominoes of Russian domination of Eastern Europe. It was Poland which allowed the formation of the first non-communist group in the Soviet bloc – the Solidarity trade union. It was Poland that allowed people to, quietly and on the sly, attend church.
When Russia threatened the Poles and demanded they crack down, the Poles refused. There was a dangerous, frightening standoff, but in the end, it was courageous Polish love of freedom that allowed that nation to shake off Russian domination.
Shortly thereafter, the rest of Russia’s empire withered, and places like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine were free. Tens of millions of people were liberated from Russia’s almost-genocidal oppression.
It was one of the greatest events of the second half of the 20th Century. And it was cheered by the American people. The Cold War, with its face-to-face stare-down between communism and capitalism was over, and the freedom of capitalism had won.
Maybe that’s what ticked off Obama because now he has distanced the United States from Poland, and capitulated to Russian demands that Poland and the Czech Republic be left unprotected from its missiles.
Tens of millions of people became less secure yesterday, and the cause of freedom in central and eastern Europe was weakened. The only winner was Russia and its dreams of empire.
In the face of an angry and belligerent Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama blinked. Ronald Reagan demanded, “Tear down the wall!” Barack Obama whimpered, “Don’t let me get in your way.” We once directly challenged Russian dreams of domination, now we have – more than anything since the partition after World War 2 – facilitated that domination.
We asked the Czechs and the Poles to be our friends, and pledged our support to them, and then we reneged and threw them under the bus.
They have followed us to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – Poland fields the second-largest number of troops fighting the war on terror – and they have fought and bled by our side.
And yesterday Barack Obama told them to screw off.
The Heritage Foundation has produced a film titled "33 Minutes" which clearly lays out the facts about national defense which we now can no longer ignore, and which the current administration has compromised.
Please take a look at this trailer and consider where we are now and where this administration is taking us.
