The more things change...... Well, you know the rest of it. Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama promises peace and pie in the sky. On the foreign policy front, hardliners in the U.S. worried the 'liberal' Obama would sell out the U.S. to all its enemies. As proof, they pointed warily at his 'reset' intentions with Russia. But reality is often at odds with rhetoric. In eastern Europe, the Obama administration continues to pursue an essentially expansionist policy not much different than the bumbling, footloose cowboy Bush Junior. Despite the flowery rhetoric, however, the essentials of the two U.S. leaders are almost indistinguishable. The latest proof? Romania has announced talks are now underway with Washington on deploying some 20 interceptor rockets on that eastern European country's territory.
Romania's foreign minister let go of a major gaffe that could cost him his job. On a visit to Paris, Teodor Baconschi let loose with a few choice comments not particularly complementary of his country's Roma community. His suggestion that some Gypsies are born criminals got the civil rights groups going ballistic. That Baconschi made his remark in France is no accident. The Gauls are handling their own Roma problem, like elsewhere in Europe.
Seems everyone in eastern Europe wants a piece of the anti-missile shield pie. Bulgaria is the latest former Warsaw Pact nation to voice its eagerness to President Barack Obama's slimmed-down, vague plan. But it's not only the Americans who are in demands. Now the Russians are finding eager parties as well to house their military hardware. Yes, it is only the sliver of a territory, the Moldovan breakaway region of Transdniester. But the news shows this U.S. project is stirring things up in the region, and could possibly lead to a new arms race.
If only the world worked the way Washington wished it would. The United States could then do whatever it wanted and then spin it as either benign, or inconsequential. In that fantasy world, what Washington did would comport with what it said it was doing. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Though more and more of the world's countries are voluntarily entangling themselves in Washington's mega-military pact, NATO, there are still a few holdouts, among them, Russia. Moscow has been incorrectly interpreting U.S. actions, prompting Washington to set the record straight.
