Kremlin's crude threats

Scripps Howard: The Bush administration has more faith in the efficacy of its missile defense system than its dismal test results would warrant. Even so, it has convinced Poland and the Czech Republic to allow it to install radar and 10 interceptor missiles on their territory.
The system is specifically intended to intercept and destroy Iranian missiles. The threat seems remote but with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmaninejad's reckless pronouncements maybe Warsaw and Prague figured there's no telling.
But the country really outraged by a European-based missile defense is Russia.
In Moscow, Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of the Russian missile forces, said if Poland or the Czech Republic went ahead with the deployment Russia would target both countries with its nuclear missiles.
Thuggish talk
This thuggish talk is simply bullying. In essence, Moscow is insisting on its right to threaten these former members of the Soviet bloc. The system is no strategic threat to Russia because its vast missile arsenal could simply overwhelm 10 interceptors. And surely Russia's diplomats know that this sort of bellicose talk will needlessly antagonize Western and Central Europe.
Analysts say the overreaction is the result of a combination of the Kremlin's desire to be taken seriously as a world power and humiliation that the United States didn't consult it in advance.
But what is most interesting -- and heartening -- about this controversy is the reaction of Poland and the Czech Republic: They said publicly they would not be bullied or blackmailed and would most likely allow the deployment.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, both countries, over Russian objections, anxiously sought and received NATO membership.