In his first foreign policy discussion, good thing it was not a critical conversation, Obama misled the Polish President, President Lech Kaczynski. Obama told Kaczynski that he intends to continue plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe. If this is true, and this was the public announcement, this would be interpreted as a hard line against Russia. Russia has been infuriated by U.S. plans for the missile-defense installation, which includes basing missile interceptors in Poland. The interceptor rockets would be linked to an air-defense radar system in the Czech Republic. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned this week that Russian missiles will be deployed against the planned system. "The Iskander missile system will be deployed in Kaliningrad region to neutralize, when necessary, the missile shield," Medvedev said. "We are also planning to use the resources of the Russian naval fleet for these purposes." Good thing there were no actual missiles involved. Denis McDonough, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser, had to reverse the understanding that Kaczynski had. Obama has made "no commitment" to plans for a missile defense program in eastern Europe.
This is the first substantive conversation with a foreign entity and Obama has already been vague and unclear, thus, annoying the already aggressive Russians. Obama better learn on the job quickly before serious issues arise because of his lack of experience.
