Polish pianist gets political

In the middle of a U.S. tour, Polish classical pianist Krystian Zimerman said he would no longer tour the U.S. until President Barack Obama stopped following in President Bush’s footsteps on a U.S. missile defense shield in Poland.

Read the full story for more about his past and present political stances and more.

Bush clueless about Poland’s history on missile defense

It’s no surprise Poland has rejected Bush’s defense package offer, in exchange for siting elements of an antimissile shield there, as inadequate. Once Putin said Poland would become a target of Russian missiles, it became clear that Bush needed to take into account centuries of Polish fears of Russia. (Of course, those fears cut both ways, and with reason. Four hundred years ago, Poland tried to install a puppet tsar in Moscow.)

Anyway, putting Patriot missiles on Polish soil for one year was so inadequate it’s laughable.

And, Bush will continue to be clueless elsewhere.

Lithuania as a site? It’s obvious Moscow was behind last week’s cyberattacks on Lithuanian computers, as a shot across the bow to Washington.

Ras-Putin outthinks Shrub on missile defense

Russian President Vladimir Putin, aka Vlad the Incarcerator (or Vlad the Polonium Poisoner, take your pick) today countered President Bush’s proposal to site a U.S. missile system in Eastern Europe with an almost grand-slam almost grand-slam bridge play:

Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Bush Thursday that he would drop his objections to a U.S. missile defense system if Washington substantially altered current plans to base it entirely in Europe and instead involved Russia through a Soviet-era radar system in the central Asian nation of Azerbaijan.

....Putin said he spoke yesterday with the president of Azerbaijan, who agreed to host elements of a missile defense system there to protect all of Europe. If this is accepted, he said, he would have no need to carry out his threat to retarget Russian missiles or place offensive units along the country's European borders.

Why do I characterize this as “almost grand slam”?

Basically, because Putin shows he's got more smarts and mojo in working the PR angles on this issue.

Bush has to either put up or shut up as to the actual targets of this system AND as to whether he really wants to be a multilateralist in the so-called “global war on terror.”

Plus, if Shrub WOULD bite on this, building it in Azerbaijan lets Ras-Putin outflank Chechnya, Georgia, et al on the southern flank and expand Russian hegemony.

Thank doorknobs Ras-Putin is not OUR president; he would run fricking circles around both parties in Congress.