North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a liar who likes to puff his chest, so when he threatens to target the United States in a nuclear missile test, we probably don’t have to start making out our wills.
But in an age of nuclear proliferation, it’s foolish not to do everything we can to protect ourselves from the threat of a nuclear attack. Just because a specific threat is probably not credible doesn’t mean no credible threat will ever come.
Yet the Obama Administration does nothing to address this threat. One of Obama’s first actions upon taking office was to cancel a commitment made by the Bush Administration to place missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. That’s because Obama didn’t want to upset the Russians, who insisted that U.S. deployment of missile defenses represent some sort of threat to them. And in the years since, Obama has slashed funding for the further development of missile defense systems – cancelling the Multiple Kill Vehicle, the Airborne Laser, and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor.
Even worse, he’s pursued a new treaty with the Russians that limits our right to develop missile defenses!
If you’re going to unilaterally give up your missile defense systems, you’d think you’d at least do something to stop rogue nations from getting their hands on nuclear weapons. But not Barack Obama. While Iran and North Korea go full speed in pursuit of these weapons, Obama refuses to take any meaningful action to stop them, and even tries to restrain the Israelis when, in their exasperation over America’s refusal to help, they consider acting alone to protect themselves.
Democrats have always hated missile defense systems because they take up money Democrats could be using elsewhere in the budget – if we had a budget – to buy votes and reward their political supporters. They also hate missile defense because their diplomatic instincts, as our incoming Secretary of State exemplifies, is to never do anything that bothers our adversaries.
So we remain completely unprotected, left with nothing but to pray that all these threats are empty.
