Missile shield accord draws Russian fire

[Gan]

Moscow lashed out at Washington and Warsaw on Friday, saying the plan to site a US anti-missile defence shield in Poland would undermine the global balance of power and put Poland at risk of nuclear attack.

Washington and Warsaw reached a preliminary agreement on Thursday to build part of the missile defence shield in Poland, station US Patriot missiles there and bolster the two countries’ military co-operation.

The US claims the shield in Poland, as well as a radar tracking base to be located in the Czech Republic, is designed to defend against “rogue states” such as Iran.

The timing of this week’s agreement, as relations between Russia and the US deteriorated over the Georgia crisis, has strengthened Moscow’s conviction that the move is anti-Russian.

“The deployment of new anti-missile forces in Europe has the Russian federation as its aim,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, at a press conference with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on Friday.

Dmitri Rogozin, Russia’s Nato envoy, said the fact the agreement “was signed at a time of a very difficult crisis in relations between Russia and the US over the situation in Georgia shows that, of course, the missile defence system will be deployed not against Iran, but against the strategic potential of Russia.”

Anatoly Nogovitsin, the deputy head of the Russian armed forces, warned Poland that by hosting the shield it could become the target of a nuclear attack in war time. “The US is concerned with its own anti-missile defence, not Poland’s. But Poland, by deploying [the shield], will be exposed to attack.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ec3816b6-6a60-11dd-83e8-0000779fd18c.html

____________________________________________-

And Russia mentions the "Nuke" option first.


wow...

[Kembal]

I actually don't understand the point of the missile shield in Europe. It's not enough to stop a full on attack by Russia, Iran doesn't have missiles far enough to reach the U.S. (and Iran has no interest in attacking Europe), and North Korea would attack in the other direction.

The ABM treaty was much better at protecting the U.S. and Europe. The missile defense system just seems designed to provoke Russia.

[Khariz]

The ABM treaty was much better at protecting the U.S. and Europe. The missile defense system just seems designed to provoke Russia.

Good. Let's get it over with.

[Kembal]

Hi, my name is Khariz, and my wish for Christmas is the end of all life on Earth as we know it!

[Khariz]

Hi, my name is Khariz, and my wish for Christmas is the end of all life on Earth as we know it!

Yeah, I mean, it's bound to happen some day anyway, right? Let's just go ahead and get it over with.

[Back]

Yeah, I mean, it's bound to happen some day anyway, right? Let's just go ahead and get it over with.

Woah. I’m not done with my sandwich yet, nihilist.

[Khariz]

I'm just kidding! Nuclear war is not in anyone's best interest, obviously. I'd like to finish my sandwich too.

[Back]

I am le tired.

[Gelston]

Nuclear Winter Olympic Games ftw.

[Mabus]

The ABM treaty was much better at protecting the U.S. and Europe.
You are accepting that Putin's Russia will stand by its treaty and international obligations. I see them as expansionist and not willing to be a secondary power in the eyes of their own people.

If one rogue state, or one rogue general in Russia, fires off a few missiles then the continued compliance with ABM treaty wouldn't have mattered, but an operational "missile shield" that we can intercept the missiles would.

The currently planned (as stated in public) system is not meant to intercept a large number of missiles. It could take care of a small number, and there is more to the chances of a rogue-actor firing one to a few missiles then the chances of an all-out nuclear exchange of hundreds of missiles.

[Mabus]

Nuclear Winter Olympic Games ftw.
Sochi, Russia 2014, or Bukovel, Ukraine 2018?
;)

[Sean of the Thread]

I had a dream the other day with Bush and Putin fishing on a lake and Bush just said "ahhh fuck it" and Colt 45'd Putin in the eye.

The dream was obviously not of my design because Bush would have used a Sig .357 rather than a Colt.

[Fallen]

Oddly enough I could very much see old G.W. doing just that.

[crb]

I actually don't understand the point of the missile shield in Europe. It's not enough to stop a full on attack by Russia, Iran doesn't have missiles far enough to reach the U.S. (and Iran has no interest in attacking Europe), and North Korea would attack in the other direction.

The ABM treaty was much better at protecting the U.S. and Europe. The missile defense system just seems designed to provoke Russia.
You can't lay out a flattened map of the earth and draw a straight line and call it a missile trajectory. Europe may not seem to be at the right angle for protecting from certain locations, but it is.

And who is to say it wouldn't be enough to stop Russia... Russia has such a problem with their nukes right now we're over there handling them for them. I wouldn't be suprised if Putin pushed the button and instead of launching a missile the microwave across the room explodes. Not that we shouldn't take them seriously, but lets indeed be serious about their capabilities.

Then, even if they did launch a bunch of warheads, and even if say we only got 10 of them with missile defenses, that is a significant number of not dead people, surely they're worth saving. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

[Sean of the Thread]

Who's down for a Fallout MMORPG????

[ClydeR]

The ABM treaty was much better at protecting the U.S. and Europe.

Why are you referring to the ABM treaty in the past tense?



You are accepting that Putin's Russia will stand by its treaty and international obligations.

That's a good point.

[Kembal]

Bush pulled out of the ABM treaty.

[Stanley Burrell]

I had a dream the other day with Bush and Putin fishing on a lake and Bush just said "ahhh fuck it" and Colt 45'd Putin in the eye.

The dream was obviously not of my design because Bush would have used a Sig .357 rather than a Colt.

You secretly want to have sex with your mother and suffer from postpartum depression, dur.

Why don't you answer any of my involved text messages I send you from my cell phone? I worship the ground you walk on and you give me shit, mang.

[Back]

All this time I thought Colt 45 was malt liqueur...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pK5HmuCMBM

[crb]

Bush pulled out of the ABM treaty.
It wasn't just ABM, it was also ABMD which means he had to pull out.

I'd rather be behind a missile shield than a paper one.

[Kembal]

Could've negotiated a revision allowing limited missile defense against rogue states. He most certainly did not have to pull out.

[Mabus]

Could've negotiated a revision allowing limited missile defense against rogue states. He most certainly did not have to pull out.
There were questions on the legality of many treaties after the dissolution of one state (USSR) that was a party.

It was up to Clinton to resolve these issues, and though he got a memorandum of understanding between four of the former Soviet states and the USA, but he never offered the revisions to the Senate.

All along we have offered the Russians to join in with the missile defense system, and several letters with proposals for cooperative agreements have been sent to the leaders in Russia.

The next big treaty (between the USA and former USSR) going away is START II, which expires in 2009. I am unsure if formal negotiations are progressing, or if they will be as limited a framework as the recent (in treaty terms) SORT treaty.

[Sean of the Thread]

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!

[Drunken Durfin]

I don't see what the big deal is. Everyone knows that Patriot missiles are pieces of shit.


WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!

That made me chuckle.

How did they not get an Oscar for this performance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooy0GFMYafY