The new MAD
Much is said about the new Cold War, but not about the new MAD. It's not like the old form of Mutual Assured Destruction, which involved huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. This time, the threat comes from a failure in the U.S. and Russia - with Europe stuck in the middle - to recognize where their political, military, financial and energy policies are leading the world. Not all are bilateral issues, of course, but insurmountable differences on such things as Kosovo, Iraq/Iran and missile defense are getting in the way of an honest assessment of the world's situation. Energy Envoy Václav Bartuška summed it up today in E15: The entire Western world is living beyond its means. Sometimes there isn't much the CR can do about the situation, such as in the case of Kosovo (which the government felt obliged to recognize yesterday). But in other areas, such as radar, the CR is needlessly contributing to mad policies that can't have a happy ending.
Glossary of difficult words
MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction, the cold-war doctrine that use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both sides;stockpile - a large accumulated stock of goods or materials;
insurmountable - too great to overcome;
assessment - evaluation, judgment;
obliged - legally or morally bound to undertake an action (because, in this case, of the EU's position on Kosovo);
mad - crazy, insane (also a word play on MAD); our thesis here is that the radar is an example of the West living beyond its means and not being able to recognize the long-term effect of such expensive policies.