Patriot missiles
Americans are great fans of Polish jokes; there is a whole website boasting hundreds of them: www.polishjoke.com. Arguably the best known is the one about changing a bulb procedure (it takes at least four Poles to do that). This and other jokes on this site are pretty harmless and can be said to apply to almost any ethnic group. However, the much hyped deployment of US Patriot missiles on Polish territory next to the city of Kaliningrad to repulse potential Russian aggression could well make a worthy addition to this particular site, except that this is no laughing matter at all. Obviously, Washington needed a symbolic gesture of sorts to gild the pill of scrapping its missile-defense-shield-in-Poland plan. However, if this gesture is strictly symbolic, a more unsuitable place and time for it would be hard to find. Because whereas previously Russia was told that it had nothing to worry about BMD-wise, as the sole purpose of the system was destruction of Iranian or North Korean missiles, the Patriots are certainly intended to repulse a potential missile attack by Russia.
Wouldn't be wiser for Washington to resort to some other, more appropriate symbolism to reassure Poland, or rather its "Patriotic" leaders, and allay their fears of Russian invasion. The easiest and most obvious gesture to make would be faxing or e-mailing to all and sundry the text of Article 5 from the NATO Charter, which organization Poland has been a member of since 1999. Under this Article the entire military might of almost 30 member states, including the US and most EU countries shall be employed to come to Poland's rescue and rebuff such an aggression if it would ever take place. Isn't this enough, and why bother with Patriots then?
Considering that the US and Russia are currently engaged in very difficult negotiations on disarmament, and that both sides seek to reset their strained relations, only those short-sighted politicians could rush to deploy missiles next door to Russia's borders or those who specifically wish to disrupt these developments.
The other day none other than NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen asked Russia to lend a hand in Afghanistan. America and Europe also need Russia's help in foiling Iran's nuclear ambition. Normally, when one requests somebody's help they do not go out of their way to antagonize the prospective helper.
If Poland and other East European countries look on Russia as a potential threat to them, they can do either of these two things. One, encourage Russia's integration in the pan-European security system, in which case Russia becomes a natural ally. And two, shout from the rooftops that Russia is a source of imminent danger and so try to obtain US and NATO military aid, including missiles and even troops. The huge expenses are expected to be covered by the US taxpayer, of course, and God knows Americans have plenty on their hands as it is.
Realistically there is nothing, short of committing political suicide, that Obama can do to cancel the deployment of Patriots in Poland. However, shouldn't be there at least congressional and public debates on this subject? Shouldn't we at least try to convince our Polish friends that having Russia as the part of European security architecture is better than this highly questionable missile game even if it has Patriotic flavors?
Edward Lozansky is president of American University in Moscow.
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