Dobra decyzja dla Polski?

I've had two concerns about the recent US decision to cancel the anti-missile defense system Bush planned to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic to shield western Europe from Iranian nuclear missiles. One was the reaction of the Putin gangster regime to what it would likely interpret as a sign of American weakness; the other was how the Poles and Czechs would feel about the cancellation, after having stuck their necks out and risked Putin's wrath by sup-porting America's earlier decision to deploy the system. (Western Europe's actual security isn't an issue since there is no evidence that anti-missile defense systems work. Why Bush chose to ask the Poles and Czechs to put themselves on the line for something useless is a separate question.)

On the first concern, the jury is still out; on the second, based on this survey (whose accuracy I can't evaluate), the Polish people consider the cancellation to be a good decision for their country by 48% to 31%, a substantial although far from overwhelming plurality. Whatever the reason for that opinion, it at least implies that the people holding it don't feel betrayed.

I hope this reflects reality. The eastern European states liberated from the Soviet empire in 1989 and 1991 are among the most supportive allies the US has, and are a critical asset in dealing with the only other country on Earth which can legitimately be called a superpower. We need to make sure they never have reason to regret siding with us.