President Obama is headed to Moscow in early July for his first ever U.S.-Russia summit. The administration, in an effort to “hit the reset button” when it comes to relations between the two countries, has in fact hit the delete button when it comes to ties with friends and allies in the region.
First, there was the news from the NATO defense ministers meeting this past week that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had told his counterpart from Poland, Bogdan Klich, that the Patriot air-defense battery promised to Poland last August as part of a broader agreement to increase strategic cooperation between the two countries would be rotated in and out of Poland and used exclusively for training purposes. As such, he added, there would be no need for the missiles to be live and armed. The agreement to locate a Patriot battery in Poland was of course a late Bush administration effort to reassure Poland of U.S. interest in the country’s security in light of the Russian invasion of Georgia; it was also a response to Russian threats against Poland for the possible deployment of ground-based missile interceptors in Polish territory–part of the U.S.-led missile defense program aimed at addressing the missile threat from Iran. Now, for all of Warsaw’s efforts to be a solid, dependable U.S. ally–which have included sending troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan–Poland is receiving promises of U.S. troops occasionally setting up shop with the military version of “potted plants” on its territory.
