What's the Big Deal with the Berlin Wall?

Barack Obama is apparently too busy to attend the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that marked the collapse of the Soviet Union's empire in Eastern Europe, the reunion of East and West Germany, and two years later the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was the defining moment that ended 45 years of Cold War, and with it the specter of a nuclear holocaust, with freedom, and America, securing one of the greatest victories in history.

Germany naturally regards the fall of the Berlin Wall as a great event in it history, and the 20th anniversary celebrations will include various notables, including Mikhail Gorbachev.

But incredibly, it won't include Barack Obama.

The administration claims he is too busy - but he isn't too busy to fly to Europe to lobby for Chicago's Olympics bid nor is he likely to be too busy to go to Oslo to claim his Nobel prize.

So for this great event in American, and world, history, being too busy can't possibly be the real reason for Obama avoiding the celebration.

I think the real reason is that Obama is doing another favor to Russia, for whom the fall of the Berlin Wall led to the Soviet Union's shattering defeat and dissolution. Obama is keen, even desperate, to bend over backwards to appease Russia in the hope it will help pressure Iran.

So far, Russia has repeatedly said it doesn't support sanctions against Iran. So even if you believed double-crossing Poland and the Czech Republic over missile defense, making it harder for Georgia to join NATO, and now avoiding the Berlin Wall celebration were good ideas in order to secure Russia's support on Iran, we aren't even getting the pay back for our efforts.

And we are betraying fundamental American values and interests in the process.