Pelosi: Selling Out Eastern Europe a 'Brilliant' Move

Just imagine what this dunce might say if if we treated our allies like friends rather than throwing them under the bus and selling out to Vladimir Putin.

President Obama's decision to scrap a controversial Bush-era missile shield for Europe yesterday calmed Russian fears of a new Cold War -- but outraged critics, who said it weakened the West.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Obama's "responsible approach."

But critics said Obama was needlessly kowtowing to the Kremlin on the eve of his meeting with Medvedev next week at the United Nations.

"It's just, unambiguously, a bad decision," said John Bolton, former UN ambassador in George W. Bush's administration.

"Russia and Iran are the big winners. I just think it's a bad day for American national security."

Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican rival in the presidential race, called the reversal "seriously misguided."

On the other hand, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was a "brilliant" move and described it as a "giant step forward."

Obama opted for what he said was a cheaper, more flexible strategy to meet the challenge of Iran's ballistic missiles. He said new intelligence data showed the greatest danger came from Tehran's shorter-range missiles, not the long-range ones anticipated in Bush's multibillion-dollar plan.

Of course now that the Iranians are ready to roll with their own nukes, does Obama have any plan to stop them?

Of course not.

Once the Bush administration committed to the deployment, I grudgingly supported it: We couldn't hang the East Europeans out to dry after strong-arming them for commitments.

Now the Obama administration's made the mess immeasurably worse. It's a lose-lose situation for us -- and for our allies.

Moscow believes we just signed over a new lease on Eastern Europe. And we didn't even get a tin of caviar. Will the Obama-Putin Act go down in history as the post-modern Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

Probably more like Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper saying we had peace in our time, but we'll see.

If anything, Obama has impeccable timing.

Ironically, Obama's announcement came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of World War II -- an event that underscores Warsaw's longstanding fear of aggression from the east.

Moreover, Obama's cave-in to Putin & Co. might make sense if it were part of a quid pro quo -- namely, a firm Russian commitment to take a harder line against Iran's nuclear ambitions. But Moscow has signaled that fresh sanctions against Iran would be "a serious mistake."

Another big winner in this? Why, Obama's pals at GE and MSNBC. Somehow I doubt his flakcs there will utter a single word of criticism.