What A Character

by Lance Thompson 

A nation’s character, like that of an individual, is determined by many factors.  Among these are promises kept, principles upheld, ideals embodied and sacrifices made.  Under the Obama administration, our national character has suffered in all these categories, most recently in regard to the cancellation of the missile defense system our nation previously pledged to erect in Poland and Czechoslovakia.  The system was designed to guard against attack by potential enemies with nuclear-capable missiles. When the installation was planned, only Russia qualified as such a potential enemy, but now Iran is also a member of the nuclear bully club.  The anti-missile system offered proven and advanced defensive technology to friendly nations who did not have the means to defend themselves against more powerful enemies. The Obama administration last week announced that they would renege on this agreement.  Obama said that instead of the promised stationary defense system, the United States would offer a new, untried, high-tech, mobile sea-based system sometime in the indefinite future.  The announcement came on the same day that the IAEA issued a report that Iran was capable of producing a nuclear weapon. When the Obama administration pulled the rug out from under Poland and Czechoslovakia, they placed allies in danger–not just the two nations in question, but all of Europe, which would have enjoyed the protection of the system.  Withdrawing our protection from Poland and Czechoslovakia is a tacit admission that we will not come to their aid in any substantial way if they are threatened or attacked.  We have abandoned them to the mercy of merciless enemies. Both nations must be experiencing a bad case of deja vu.  In World War II, Poland was allied with England and France.  Both countries agreed to come to Poland’s aid in the event of attack by another nation.  On 1 September, 1939, Poland was attacked from the west by Hitler’s Germany and from the east by Stalin’s Russia.  British and French troops were alerted and mobilized, but none came to the aid of Poland, which was overrun and subdued in a matter of days.  After the war, the Soviets, who had taken all of Poland in their drive against Germany, broke their agreement to allow self-government in the occupied country, and Poland became part of the Soviet bloc. In Czechoslovakia in 1948, when it looked like the communists were going to lose the upcoming election, they staged a coup to take over the government.  Thereafter, the communists purged the Czech military of non-communist officers and reorganized the Czech government along Soviet lines.  (“Purge” does not mean that these patriotic Czechs resigned, went to school on the GI Bill, and found other work in the private sector.  They were imprisoned or murdered.)  Czechoslovakia became a stalwart member of the Warsaw Pact.  Still, there remained much anti-communist resistance among the Czech people, and in 1968 the Soviet Union invaded with half a million troops, neutralizing the Czech military and making Czechoslovakia a submissive Soviet satellite.  The West did not interfere, and the Czechs lived under communist government until 1990 when communist influence crumbled, and Czechs had their first free election since 1946. Now, Poland and Czechoslovakia have again been abandoned by a powerful ally.  Why?  The anti-missile system has long been a sore point with the Russians, the potential aggressors it was originally designed to deter.  President Obama has a meeting scheduled with Putin and Medvedev shortly.  It has been this administration’s policy to unilaterally make concessions in advance of any meeting with rivals, only to get nothing in return but more demands for concessions.   Under Obama, our nation broke its promise to defend Poland and Czechoslovakia from missile attack, violated the principles of diplomacy by making this decision unilaterally without consulting the nations whose security it threatens, turned its back on the ideal of defending democracy around the world, and did so on the basis of fiscal economy and diplomatic spinelessness  Meanwhile, every American ally must be wondering who will be next to be abandoned by the Obama administration.  Under Obama, American promises mean nothing, our principles are expedient, our ideals for sale, and our allies cannot depend on us. Obama campaigned on a promise to restore American prestige in the world.  Instead, he has irreparably damaged the character of the American nation by replacing it with his own.