From the Guardian: Ellen Tauscher, the state department’s under-secretary for arms control, and Alexander Vershbow, deputy defence secretary and former US ambassador to Russia and Nato, were in Warsaw and Prague today doing the explaining . . .

“The Americans only cared about their interests. They used everybody else,” said Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and revolutionary leader. “It wasn’t that the shield was that important, but it’s about the way, the way of treating us . . .”

“This is a U-turn of US policy,” said [former Czech deputy prime minister, Alexandr] Vondra of the missile shield. “But first we expect that the US will honour its commitments to us. If they don’t, they may have problems generating support for Afghanistan and on other things … I expect the real reason for this is Obama’s upcoming meeting with [Russian president Dmitry] Medvedev.”