Vice President Joe Biden began a trip to Eastern Europe including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania this week. The trip comes on the back of the disastrous announcement by the Obama administration abandoning third site missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of improving relations with Russia. Biden is making a weak attempt to reassure Eastern Europe, especially Poland, of continued U.S. partnership as he is trying to force them into accepting the new reality.
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 …
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 …
