THE OBAMIZATION OF EASTERN EUROPE?

In Munich in 1938, the western powers decided to abandon the democratic and well-armed Czechoslovakia to National Socialist Germany even though honoring their military commitments would very likely have caused the fall of Hitler. What followed is, as they say, history.

Now, exactly seventy years later, we hear a rumor that President-elect Obama seems to be getting lukewarm on affirming his support for yet another courageous Eastern European nation, this time when the Russians have rattled their sabers. For Poland, which had made a major commitment to U.S. and NATO security by accepting U.S. anti-ballistic missiles on its territory, the implications of any waffling on the U.S. President's part are staggering.

I hope these rumors are untrue; but one way or another, I submit that Mr. Obama must now come out with a clear statement of support for our European allies. This is easy enough with regard to the leftish regimes in Western Europe; but it will take genuine statesmanship, not to mention cojones, to declare unconditional support for all those newly liberated nations in Eastern Europe which have suffered for so many years from depredations by the powerhouses of terror to their immediate west and east, and which are still clearly at risk from the east.

Mr. Obama, all you have to say is this: “The United States of America remains true to all its commitments to all our European allies. All plans to improve European security will proceed as planned. This includes the deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system to Poland and the Czech Republic to guard against the nascent missile threat from Iran and other rogue nations. I reiterate that this system is not, and never was intended to be, a threat to Russia.”

If Mr. Obama blinks and tragedy strikes, whether swiftly or insidiously, it may be that we will soon speak of the Obamization of Eastern Europe where, just a few decades ago, we had spoken of Finlandization -- or worse. This is not a legacy that this lower-case "d" democrat would want on his conscience.