Obama to abandon US missile defense?

Any story that comes from a Russian media source should always be taken with a grain of salt. However, if true, this one is deeply troubling. Russian media are reporting that President Obama, in a letter to Russian “President” Dmitry Medvedev, has offered to scrap US plans for missile defense in Europe in exchange for Russian assistance in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

It’s true that the US has said all along that Iran is the main inspiration for deploying missile defense in Europe. However, everyone knows that this is a half-truth. Iran is far from the only nuclear threat we face, and while the missile defense system would be far less effective against a large nuclear arsenal such as Russia’s, there’s no question that the system is designed to protect against Russian missiles too, as the Russians well know.

It’s hard to imagine the Obama Administration throwing away years of hard work, not to mention delicate diplomacy in Eastern Europe. Countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic signed on to host the missile defense system knowing it would anger their powerful Russian neighbor. To abandon the system now would pull the rug out from under these allies and leave them exposed, betrayed and vulnerable.

Furthermore, the irony is that Russia is primarily responsible for the nuclear technology Iran has developed so far. I question whether Russian “help” on Iran can really be trusted when they have economic reasons to continue supporting Iran.

I very much hope this turns out to be just another rumor.