U.S. missile shield in Europe aimed against Russia

New Governor Of Alaska · Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

U.S. missile shield in Europe aimed against Russia - army chief

MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - Missile defense elements the United States plans to deploy in Central Europe are undoubtedly directed against Russia, the country's top military commander said on Tuesday.

Washington wants to place a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland, purportedly to counter a missile threat from Iran and other "rogue" states. Moscow has responded angrily to the plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic balance of forces and threaten Russia's national interests.

"If the Americans deploy the radar by 2011 and anti-ballistic missiles by 2012-2013, they will certainly be directed against Russia, and we can easily prove it," the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said in an interview with Russia Today, an English-language state TV channel.

He said those advising the U.S. president to create a global missile defense network were driven by a desire to ensure that the U.S. could strike with impunity and prevent any kind of retaliation.

He also reiterated that the alleged Iranian missile threat was used by the U.S. as a simple pretext to deploy weaponry close to Russia's borders, as Iran does not possess the technology to develop and produce long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles.

"There will be no Iranian threat to the United States in the near future. Iran will be unable to create intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States until at least 2020," he said.

"As to the European segment of the missile shield, it is certainly not aimed against Iran," he said, adding that Washington had turned down Russia's proposal to jointly monitor missile test launches in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Baluyevsky's comments came on the eve of his visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels to attend a session of the Russia-NATO Council. His talks with senior NATO officials will focus on the NATO-Russia work plan for 2007 and a variety of ongoing controversial issues, including the U.S. missile shield.

http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20071113/87816955.html

Russia slams U.S. written proposals on missile shield, CFE

MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - The United States has gone back on previous initiatives concerning its missile shield in Europe in a written proposal earlier received by Russia, a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Russia's foreign and defense ministers held talks on October 12 with their U.S. counterparts in Moscow, at which the U.S. side made 'counter proposals' in a bid to allay Russia's concerns over Washington's missile shield plans in Europe, including inviting Russian experts to inspect mooted missile defense sites.

"This time [in written proposals], there is no mention of a joint assessment of threats, the presence of Russian experts at U.S. missile defense sites in Europe. The document does not confirm U.S. willingness not to activate the [missile] shield if there is no real threat," the source said.

The United States plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. Moscow views the plans as a threat to its national security.

"Everything is so vague that it is hard to discern previous initiatives in the document," the source said.

He also said Moscow was disappointed with the new U.S. proposals on the future of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which is another issue of discord between Russia and the West.

"We do not see any significant progress [in the written U.S. proposal] on issues raised by Russia concerning the CFE treaty," the source said.

Both houses of the Russian parliament have unanimously supported President Putin's initiative to suspend Russia's participation in the CFE treaty, which the Kremlin calls discriminatory. The measure becomes effective on December 12.

Russia insists it will consider resuming its participation in the CFE treaty only if other signatories fulfilled their obligations under the arms control accord.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89356224.html

Russian Topol-M launching a Satelite
Video -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QIzXI-mlJjs

Kizzume · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:30 am Post subject:

I often wonder whether there's a desire in the current administration to bring back the cold war because it helped boost the economy.

I wonder the similar things about Russia--similar, not the same.

What I'm trying to figure out is what the big deal is in using whatever methods they have to launch satellites?