The President has announced that he is canceling agreements with Czek Republic and Poland.   This appears to be an unilateral decision.  The President is taking a lot of heat for this action.  Europe is supposedly “shocked” that their golden boy would do this. 

One of the basic tenants of negotiations is that you do not negotiate with yourself.  You must get something for something.  For example, many people would disagree with trading these agreements in exchange for help from Russia on the Iran issue.  However, ever with the criticism, it would be a recognized negotiation effort.

The problem is if this is an attempt on President Obama’s part to make a “gesture” toward Russia in an attempt to get its cooperation.  If this is what it is then President does not understand basic concepts of negotiation.  This would not be surprising.  The President does not really have any experience in conducting high stakes negotiations.  His background is in community organizer of the type that ACORN is known for performing.  Also, he has been a professor, a member of a state legislature and the Senate.  He has run campaigns, but he has not had much experience in conducting negotiations of the type that he now must engage in as President. 

If the President has just made a rash gesture (the day after Russia announced agreements with Venezuela) in the hope of getting the help of Russia, then this is very troubling.  The President just showed Russia that he can be manipulated.  The President just showed Russia that he does not have a backbone and will not stand by our allies.

We hope that this is all not correct.  We hope that this has more to do with a back room deal that signals that Russia is getting on board with us to address Iran.  Even then we believe that this was the wrong decision, but then we would acknowledge that we could have policy disagreements.  However, if this is just a blatant attempt at appeasement, then this is a step back in time for our country to the start of WWII and we already know the end of that story.