U.S. Department of Defense
Two weeks ago, the Obama administration decided to scrap plans to deploy missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic. It was a wise move. The plan’s stated justification — to protect Eastern Europe from an Iranian and North Korean nuclear attack — was always implausible. Assuming that Iran developed a nuclear device and then weaponized it for use on an ICBM, why would Tehran want to attack NATO members like the Czech Republic or Poland? Why would Pyongyang? The unstated purpose of the plan — to bolster Eastern Europe’s defense against possible Russian aggression — was also implausible, though for a different reason. Russia possesses thousands of nuclear weapons, more than enough to overwhelm any defense system. The plan, in short, was always a solution in search of a problem.
Eastern European missile defense could only accomplish one thing: a worsening of troubled relations between Washington and Moscow. Abandoning it may help in securing Russian cooperation in pressuring Tehran to comply with international inspections of its nuclear facilities. There are already tentative signs that Moscow is taking a more accommodating line.
We shouldn’t deceive ourselves. Real differences — notably on expanding NATO to include Georgia and Ukraine — divide Washington and Moscow. But scrapping the planned missile defense system has removed an unnecessary irritant from the complex Russo-American relationship.
The decision has, unsurprisingly, prompted protests from conservative quarters. The National Review’s Michael Goldfarb, in his online discussion with Robert Farley of the University of Kentucky, holds views representative of many on the Right. One of his chief arguments — that the decision is a betrayal of Poland and the Czech Republic — is dubious at best. As Farley points out, missile defense was never particularly popular among the citizens of either country. The political fallout in Prague and Warsaw should be minimal.
Joe Barnes is the Baker Institute’s Bonner Means Baker Fellow. From 1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, serving Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.