Biden Should Treat Poland with Respect

Ariel Cohen / October 21, 2009

In what appears to be an emerging ritual, Vice President Joe Biden is heading out to Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic ostensibly to talk missile defense. But in reality it looks like a mopping up operation after yet another faux pas by his Administration.

The last time Biden was on an apologize-and-salvage mission was when he ventured to Ukraine and Georgia in July, two weeks after his boss, President Barack Obama, was busy pushing reset buttons in Moscow. But Biden, a serial bumbler, had decided to give the Ukrainian leaders a didactic – and very public — lecture about how they should behave, and blurted in Tbilisi that the United States will not provide a “physical security guarantee to Georgia,” making a sensitive situation worse.

American rhetoric aside, after his visit Russia stepped up its pressure on Tbilisi and Kyiv. (more…)