Well, it appears that Bush has managed to browbeat the Europeans into accepting an ABM installation spread across Poland and the Czech Republic, despite the fact that he pissed them off of by publicly lobbying for the admission of Georgia and the Ukraine to NATO, despite the fact that there had been a previous agreement not to do so.

The marvelously named Duck of Minerva makes the point that Bush was talking out of both sides of his mouth, on the one hand claiming that the missile shield is not intended to be used against Russia, and on the other claiming that the membership of Georgia and the Ukraine, “would send a signal throughout the region that these two nations are, and will remain, sovereign and independent states.”

If they need membership to be protected against Russia, then who do they need protection against?

The answer is that this is a deliberate attempt to antagonize Russia, because it is believed to play well for Republicans. Lynne Cheney has been lobbying for recreating what was the Soviet threat for political advantage since the early 1990s.

It’s all the fault of those damn Eskimos!!!

Of course, once again, the Greeks appear to be compensating for what must be the smallest penises in Europe, vetoing Macedonia’s entry into NATO.

Let’s get this clear:

• Macedonia was never a part of Greece.
• Alexander the Great was not a Greek.
• The people of what was then Macedonia did not speak Greek, except for the aristocracy, who were educated in Greek, and might have spoken Greek with more facility than Macedonian.
• Greece was conquered by Macedonia, by Phillip of Macedon, and then Alexander took over the known world.

Any questions?