A Great Roger Cohen Column

No, really.  I've been wondering why the President slighted Poland last week (and wondering if it's such a great thing to be a small country -- or non country, i.e. Tibet -- in the Age of Obama) and here's a tough, penetrating and nuanced column on the subject. And as a bonus, he makes a non-satirical reference to the Iran threat:

Now I'm sure Obama had no desire to insult Poland, even if the announcement also came as Russia conducted large-scale military maneuvers with Belarus, an exercise on its western flank that summons the darkest specters of post-Soviet Polish and Baltic-state angst. As U.S. timing goes, this was pitiful.

Strategy is another matter. The new U.S. plan to deploy proven SM-3 interceptor missiles, first at sea and later on land, makes better sense overall. It's nimbler and saner on the Iranian threat. Why goad the Russian bear for little gain?

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/09/a-great-roger-cohen-column/27070/