The fruits of consensus

President Barack Obama was barracked for ending plans to build a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, right-wingers viewing it as a loss of face in front of a belligerent Russia that only understands force (or so they would have it). Some even compared him to Neville Chamberlain in appeasing the Kremlin (talking of the 1930s, I learn today that the owners of Israel's second-largest drug business, NeoPharm, are the Fuhrer family. You couldn't make it up). Doom-mongers warned in sombre tones that this would only encourage Russia to throw its weight around and would even lead to conflict when the USa refused to shrink from confrontation anymore.
Well, these rabid right-wingers have been routed! Hurrah! Not having a government run by idiotic and arrogant tosspots does bring results. Finding common ground and compromise is, after all, what politics is all about. The Russians have leaked that they will not now pursue the increased militarisation of the Kalingrad enclave with Iskander missiles and long-range bomber planes; meanwhile Putin, far from ridiculing a 'weak' US administration, called the decision a 'bold' one. Now at the United Nations, Russia looks like it will follow America's lead in placing extra sanctions on Iran (Putin may now probably agree), if the Islamic Republic continues to thumb the nose at the international community over its nuclear programme. On the other hand, Russia's actions in shutting off the gas twice in two years that transits through Ukraine has forced a collection of European states to fund an alternative gas pipeline that avoids areas that Russia can affect, thereby weakening Russia's position. Getting tough should be used sparingly, not always as the first resort.