after watching georgia get run over by russia, poland drops its reservations and signs on to allow the u.s. to deploy a missile defense system in that country. russia threatens to attack poland. because poland is a member of NATO, that would mean a war between the u.s. and russia.
meanwhile, this missile defense system is untested and won't come online for at least another two years. it's supposedly built to counter iranian ICBMs, but iran doesn't have any ICBMs, and won't for any time in the immediate future. it also cannot be used to stop a russian attack, because russia has so many missiles it could easily overwhelm the system.
in other words, the bush administration is provoking a potentially major foreign policy crisis for no practical gain for american interest. well, except for american military contractors. they're going to get years of federal dollars for a project that might not work at all. another foreign policy triumph!
