In what appears to be an emerging ritual, Vice President Joe Biden is heading out to Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic ostensibly to talk missile defense. But in reality it looks like a mopping up operation after yet another faux pas by his Administration. The last time Biden was on an apologize-and-salvage mission was when he ventured to Ukraine and Georgia in July, two weeks after his boss, President Barack Obama, was busy pushing reset buttons in Moscow. But Biden, a serial bumbler, had decided to give the Ukrainian …
Sending the Vice President to Poland and the Czech Republic this week could easily be another misstep by the Administration when it comes to handling relations with Central and Eastern Europe. Despite his seniority, the famously gaffe-prone Joe Biden may not be the wisest choice to handle Washington’s “damage control” exercise in Warsaw and Prague. And damage has been done in abundance, not just to America’s diplomatic relations with Poland and the Czech Republic, but to its standing in this part of the world more broadly. President Obama’s abandonment of …
In January, amidst a particularly cold winter, Russia’s quasi-governmental gas giant Gazprom turned off the gas taps to Ukraine after the two sides failed to reach agreement in a pay dispute. Downstream users including Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and the Czech Republic were also put in the deep freeze. Gazprom has become synonymous with energy intimidation and Moscow has leveraged energy to specifically target former Soviet states such as Ukraine as it seeks to carve out a sphere of influence in its near abroad. However, the conundrum for Moscow in playing …
Have Russia’s oil and gas replaced Cossack squadrons and tank divisions as the means to intimidate Europe? Will pipeline routes create new dependencies in the 21st century which may force the NATO alliance come apart at the seams? Nord Stream is a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, with spurs to Germany’s neighbors. It will bypass Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Poland – the traditional transit countries. Leaders from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) worry that this pipeline will allow Russia to cut off the gas to the …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Tgl-elpxg[/youtube] President Obama speaks glowingly of ‘inextricable links’ between the world’s countries, forgetting sometimes, however, which links are truly inextricable: America’s alliance with Europe. Commenting last week on this alliance during a visit to Heritage, former Spanish President José Maria Aznar said: It’s necessary in my view to bring forth this Atlantic Alliance, this Atlantic link, and to avoid confusion between the allies in the future. The confusion Mr. Aznar refers to is in particular the result of the Obama administration’s weak stances on Iran and Venezuela.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctFga8CfdM[/youtube] En este vídeo, el ex Primer Ministro de España platica con la Fundacion Heritage acerca de la importancia de las próximas elecciones hondureñas; el conflicto en Afganistan y por ultimo, la opinión que tienen los Europeos acerca del Presidente Obama y nuestro gobierno estadounidense.
MOSCOW – The Kremlin perceives the Obama Administration’s decision to scrap the third site anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic as a radical review of the US global leadership policy and a serious concession to Russia. At the same time, the Kremlin does not think it necessary to meet Washington halfway and is confining itself to verbal promises. Indeed, Russia in the person of President Dmitry Medvedev and a number of military commanders, announced its decision to reverse its plans to deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad Region. …
Yesterday, for the second time this year, Iran test-fired their Sejil-2 ballistic missile. The mid-range weapon has a range of about 1200 miles, long enough to target Israel, Egypt, southeastern Europe, and many American bases in the Middle East. So if Iran has twice test-fired missiles this year that can hit targets stretching from Israel to Europe, then how can the Obama administration possibly justify reneging on agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic to host land based missile defense? The New York Times explains: Earlier this month, administration officials …
MOSCOW – President Barak Obama’s decision to abandon ballistic missile defense in Central Europe will encourage Iranian truculence and will not generate Russian good will or support for the US on Iran sanctions. This is the main take-home lesson from my meetings with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and President Dmitry Medvedev over the last week. It looks like President Obama will abandon ballistic missile deployment against Iran in Poland the Czech Republic, and adopt a different, sea-based system, which has limited application against the Iranian threat. …
