Obama Punts Missile Shield, Russians Dance the Kalinka

Add this to the oft-forgotten list of things progressives can celebrate about the president: Obama’s decision to postpone the deployment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe has possibly averted a new arms race with Russia.

While conservatives greeted the news with hair-pulling, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the decision and pledged to work with the U.S. to reduce nuclear stockpiles.

The thought of Iranian nuclear weapons (the stated and possibly silly reason for this missile shield) is scary, but the United States and Russia’s nukes are (a) real and (b) number in the thousands.  —PS

BBC:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has welcomed as “positive” the US decision to shelve controversial missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Mr Medvedev said there were now “good conditions” for US-Russia talks on tackling missile proliferation.

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U.S. Navy

A missile interceptor is launched from a Navy guided missile cruiser during a missile defense test. President Obama has ordered the more flexible (and diplomatic) approach of potentially launching interceptors from sea rather than bases on Russia’s doorstep.