Forget the disastrous policies like pre-emptive military strikes, torture, suspension of habeas corpus (the right to be charged with a crime if held under custody). The Bush Administration is so foolish, weak, and amateurish that they can't stand fast during diplomatic disputes.

Like a fool, Bush is butting heads with the KGB lifer Vladomir Putin, who Bush says he "looked into his soul," because Bush wants to put missile-defense systems in formerly Soviet countries Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Nice claim here:

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack reiterated the US position that the missile defence system is not aimed at Russia and invited the Russians to participate in the programme.

Yeah, they want the missiles to defend against Iran and North Korea.



I've never heard anything more absurd. If Poland needs protection against North Korea (one of the poorest nations in the world), then why haven't we pre-emptively invaded them, too? It's 4,500 miles from N. Korea to Hawaii; it's 4,704 from Pyongyang to Warsaw.

Has there ever been a modern foreign policy more based on fear, anxiety, and sophomoric posturing?