Obama jettisons missile shield plans

[Husar]

Most of NATO seems quite happy with this, only the US conservative movement voicing strong disapproval.

This is, in good part, because the US conservative movement would prefer US military power to be predominant and would like our diplomacy to be closer to the "shut up and do what I say" end of the scale. This tendency is hardly unique to the USA -- lots of our NATO pals and a host of others have done this in the past. Part of human nature.

What is to be done about Russian assertiveness? They too have this tendency.

Yeah, like I said, both have such tendencies and I don't like them a lot.

The missile shield was, at least in part, a way to shore up Poland and the Chek Republic through the time honored "if you attack them, you'll also kill us which we will have to react to" approach. Is keeping the bear happy the better alternative?

If we show the bear that we want to work with him and not against him we can influence him, as sarmatian said it may take longer but if it works it creates a lot less tension and problems than a constant struggle to keep the bear down while it's trying to wrestle it's way back to the top.
I mean 1200 years back you wouldn't have thought it possible to have a discussion with a Norwegian as he'd pillage your village but nowadays they're the most liberal hippie commies of us all.