U.S. ballistic missile defense in Central Europe:

The Czech government has delayed its vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the document that will serve as the European constitution. The publicly admitted reason was simple and true: With the Americans perhaps souring on missile defense installations, the Russians resurging and the Europeans dithering on everything, the Czechs want some clarity from the Americans before they commit to anything like a European constitution. The Czechs need to know where the Americans stand on the issue of protecting Central Europe, because they fear their European partners won’t do anything (and they already know where the Russians stand). This is very direct. Very pragmatic. Very understandable. But this is the kind of thing best kept quiet while the Russians are in the room. The Central Europeans are pondering redefining their relationships with both Washington and Moscow. The new U.S. administration would trigger that regardless, but now the Obama administration has very little time to impress the Central Europeans before they have to start making some very hard decisions.