There Will Be No Shield. Obama Has Other Priorities

There will be no shield. Obama has other priorities.

Gazeta Wyborcza’s information is being confirmed – there will be no American anti-missile shield in Poland. A new era of the Polish-American relations is emerging.

The priority of Barack Obama’s policy is Afghanistan. The developments in this country – beside the further fate of the economic crisis in the U.S. and health insurance reform – may decide if Obama will stay in the White House for a second term [starting] in 2013.

The second priority of this administration is Iran. If the Americans don’t manage to curb the nuclear ambitions of Tehran, we may witness a real Apocalypse in the Middle East. That’s why there will be no base of anti-missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic.

Obama has decided that Washington needs Russia’s support in Afghanistan and Iran and also probably in a few other matters very important for the USA – e.g. in Southeastern Asia and in the Arabic world, rather than the shield in Europe.

In backing away from the shield, the White House is gaining Russia’s favor in those matters. In addition, it is saving quite a lot of money and eliminating one of the important projects of the George Bush era.

From the point of view of the 44th president’s future, the decision to back away from the shield is – like the Americans say – a no-brainer. There are plenty of ideas in our country about if and what kind of alliance with the U.S. Poland needs today. Our politicians, according to the tradition, will now make a issue out of this matter to batter political opponents. So I wouldn’t count on any clever ideas from them. On the other hand, I hope that publicists and experts will now start a fascinating and very necessary debate on what this new era of relations between Warsaw and Washington should be.