Based on his reaction to President Manuel Zelaya’s dismissal by the Honduran Congress, one might think that President Obama is still living in the 1980s. Along with the Organization of American States (OAS), Obama has failed to see that the greatest threat to Latin American democracy today is not rightist generals or leftist guerrillas, but rather illegal usurpation by self-aggrandizing executives like Zelaya. The now-former Honduran president tried to follow the example of his ally, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez: Get elected, then illegally subvert established democratic institutions, and assume near-absolute power. Honduras’ constitution specifically bars a president from seeking re-election; it is punishable by loss of Honduran citizenship. Yet Obama demands Zelaya’s reinstatement, as if there has been an old-style military coup.
It would be a terrible miscalculation for Obama similarly to lose sight of contemporary issues and interests in a fog of obsolete arms-control ideology from the Soviet era. That is to say, he must not, under any circumstances, trade away our ongoing plans for a missile defense facility in Poland and the Czech Republic, a course he hinted at yesterday. Russia simply has no concession to offer that is worth the U.S. losing its ability to protect itself and its NATO allies from missile attacks launched by a mad mullah, or terrorists who gain control of nuclear weapons.
Russia is no longer our belligerent enemy. Whether the Russian Bear has 2,200 nuclear warheads or “just” 1,675 is a comparatively minor detail. In contrast, Iran’s possession of even one nuclear warhead on a long-range missile is all-important to us and our European allies. We must have a missile defense system in place to defend against nuclear blackmail. That is why President Bush planned the missile defense facility for Eastern Europe, which Obama now seems willing to entertain stopping in return for soothing promises from Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The Russians oppose our missile defense plan in Eastern Europe, but with no good reason, since it will have zero effect on their ability to defend themselves. Obama and the Russians have agreed to disagree on missile defense, for now. But Obama’s comments yesterday, combined with his strident opposition to missile defense during his 2008 election campaign, provide ample reason to fear that he will make the system a bargaining chip when the topic next surfaces later this year. This must not happen. America’s safety cannot be traded for arms reduction, concessions on the status of the former Soviet republics, or even Russian cooperation on Iran.!
