Of Russian apologists and “virtually” silly analogies.

The apologists for Russia are out in full force, making their ridiculous comparisons and justifications. (Indeed, history does repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. This same variety of fools once blamed Ronald Reagan, not Soviet imperialism, for defending Western Europe with Pershing II missiles. How we’ve come full circle.)

Here’s Matt Welch from Reason Magazine, citing one egregious example:

There is much one could say about this claim by L.A. Times columnist Rosa Brooks:

Th[e] U.S. also insisted this summer on the deployment of an almost certainly useless missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, virtually on Moscow’s doorstep.

I’ll just focus on this: How “virtual” is that doorstep? Here’s how far the eastern-most big city of the Czech Republic is from the Russian capital:

That’s 1,000 miles. The Czechs aren’t even neighbors of any of mainland Russia’s neighbors. If 1,000 miles is the new “doorstep,” then Russia’s on the doorstep of the United States [via Alaska], more than half of Europe, much of Asia, and almost all of the Middle East. Run for your lives!

I’ve heard this a lot too — that Russia’s invasion of Georgia is (but of course!) all Bush’s fault because Eastern European nations are accepting of our *defensive* technology. The argument is asinine. What threat is Poland to Russia? Why would the Russians — if they’re truly this benign, reformist, democratizing, post-Gulag nation as they’ve been claiming since 1991 — feel threatened by a missile shield in Eastern Europe unless Russia had a motive for military aggression against Poland?

If the U.K. put a missile shield in Bermuda the U.S. wouldn’t give a flip because the U.S. and U.K. are both liberally-constitutional democracies! Ergo, that Russia feels threatened by one liberally-constitutional democracy providing the defense of another liberally-constitutional democracy only proves that Russia isn’t one, is in fact and by its actions the opposite, and validates our necessity to assist protecting the Eastern European states.