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Moscow angered by US plan for 'star wars' bases in Europe to counter threat of Iran
Belfast Telegraph ^ | 24 May 2006 | Rupert Cornwell

Posted on 05/24/2006 9:41:45 AM PDT by lizol

Moscow angered by US plan for 'star wars' bases in Europe to counter threat of Iran

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington

24 May 2006 In a move that is raising hackles in Moscow, the US is proposing to install an anti-missile defence system in central Europe to counter any future attack from a nuclear-armed Iran.

The plan, for which the Pentagon has requested $56m (£30m) of exploratory funding from Congress, would cost $1.6bn and involve 10 interceptor units.

The most likely base for the system is Poland, followed by the Czech Republic, officials said. For the moment, the scheme ­ first reported in The New York Times this week and which would parallel the anti-missile shield under construction in Alaska and California against attacks from North Korea ­ is largely symbolic and hypothetical.

Iran currently has no weapons capable of hitting western Europe, let alone an intercontinental missile that could strike the United States. But as a showdown moves closer between the West and Tehran over its uranium-enrichment programme, and with the Israeli Prime Minister in Washington warning that Iran represents a threat not only to Israel but to Western civilisation, the US is determined to send another signal of its determination to act.

The new shield would bring a direct US military presence deeper into Europe. And for Russia, the project reeks of American encroachment into what used to be its own sphere of influence. The move would have "a negative impact on the whole Euro-Atlantic security system", Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Defence Minister, told a Belarus newspaper, hinting at further strain on ever-delicate relations between Russia and Nato. The mooted site for the system was "dubious, to put it mildly", he said.

This is not the first time the missile shield has divided the two countries.

In 2002, President Bush upset Moscow by unilaterally pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, long regarded in Moscow as the cornerstone of nuclear arms control.

The possible extension of missile defences into Poland or the Czech Republic ­ both staunch American allies ­ is the latest episode of a story that has inspired dreams and controversy in equal measure since it was first sketched out by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 as the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), quickly dubbed "Star Wars". But despite more than 20 years of work and tens of billions of dollars in spending, it is now accepted that any such shield would be overwhelmed by an attack from Russia, which possesses a nuclear arsenal comparable to the US.

It has now been scaled back to cope with the far more limited strike that North Korea might be able to deliver to the continental US by the end of the decade. So far, nine interceptor rockets are in place at Fort Greely in Alaska, and two more at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the viability even of this version is questionable.

"It [the shield] has been doing very poorly," a former Pentagon official involved in the testing told The New York Times. "They have not had a successful flight intercept test in four years."

But the slow progress has not deterred extensive contacts between the US and Poland in particular. Polish press reports have said that Boeing, the lead company on the project, has already agreed to subcontract work to Polish concerns.

According to The New York Times, the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is expected to receive a recommendation on a European site in the summer. If the plan for interceptors in Poland goes ahead, it would create the first permanent American military presence in the country.

At least as logical a site for the shield would be Britain, where the Pentagon is already upgrading equipment at the early warning radar base of Fylingdales in North Yorkshire. But the intense domestic unpopularity of Tony Blair ­ who is meeting President Bush in Washington tomorrow ­ and hostility to the Iraq war have ruled that option out.

Poland, on the other hand, has been a staunch ally of the US ever since Communism collapsed there in 1989. It is now a member of Nato, and has contributed troops to the occupation of Iraq.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: czechrepublic; defence; europe; iran; poland; russia; sonofstarwars
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To: plain talk
Kamikaze Commie - Noun. New York Times reader who hopes ABM system fails to intercept NY bound nuclear warhead because if it succeeds it will only encourage an arms race.
61 posted on 05/24/2006 6:37:27 PM PDT by JasonC
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To: Paul Ross

Thanks for the ping!


62 posted on 05/24/2006 8:56:15 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: MARKUSPRIME

The new russian warheads they boast so much about being able to manuveur is screwed in the boost phase. This is why they dont want use getting so close.===

That is probably right. SO ABM base in Poland will not be against Iran as they try to convince Russia. You comfirm it yourself.
But Russia will find something to worsen the security of those who try to worsen her own security.
I red some thing about new type of 100MT "country buster" warhead dedicated to some country. They may start from Sibiria or far East so the boost stage will be out of reach from Poland.


63 posted on 05/25/2006 12:24:42 AM PDT by RusIvan
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To: RusIvan

Thats ok, if russia launches nukes at any NATO nation they will cease to exist also. Understand comrade?


64 posted on 05/25/2006 5:28:32 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
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To: MARKUSPRIME

Thats ok, if russia launches nukes at any NATO nation they will cease to exist also. Understand comrade?==

Ok comrade. Just calm down:).

IMHO if Russia ceases to exist then whole world will cease to exist also. Russia has enough nukes to ensure it.

The problem is different. I just said that if some country try to compromise the security of Russia then Russia has all rights to compromise the security of such country.

To install the huge yeild 100MT warhead may do some psycological effect. Just think. They wanted to make dirty to Russia but Russia in return put then under "sword of Damocles". They start to think what if some drunk russian soldier will push wrong button and thier country became the glassy parking lot. It will be very profound effect.

Maybe it will teach them the russian proverb: "Don't dig the hole for someone because you may fall their yourself":) Cheers!


65 posted on 05/25/2006 8:49:15 AM PDT by RusIvan
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To: RusIvan
I red some thing about new type of 100MT "country buster" warhead dedicated to some country. They may start from Sibiria or far East so the boost stage will be out of reach from Poland.

Our old Titan-II carried a 9+ megaton monster. I am dubious about the claim to an ICBM-deliverable 100 MT device. An SS-18 would be hard-pressed to loft that. And nobody has tested such a warhead.

I am also dubious about it being a "country buster" unless its a small country. Sounds Strangelovian.

66 posted on 05/25/2006 12:45:47 PM PDT by Paul Ross (We cannot be for lawful ordinances and for an alien conspiracy at one and the same moment.-Cicero)
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To: lizol

Could also possibly help with killing SRBMs launched from Kaliningrad.


67 posted on 05/25/2006 6:59:42 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: Paul Ross

Our old Titan-II carried a 9+ megaton monster. I am dubious about the claim to an ICBM-deliverable 100 MT device. An SS-18 would be hard-pressed to loft that. And nobody has tested such a warhead.
I am also dubious about it being a "country buster" unless its a small country. Sounds Strangelovian.==

Exactly. The "country buster" for small country. The progress is countinuing. SO what early fitted huge Titan-II missile today is much smaller and compacter and lotof bigger punch..

I recall that in memories of some general of strategic forces he describe that project to design the 1TT (trillion tonns) warhead. It was in 1970th. Since then so many times passed.

This collosal 1TT-yeald nuke was dedicated to the need to destroy asteroids. But in same time it may show everyone who seeks to jeopardise the security of Russia that Russia may find the ways to jeopardise thier security too and in very nasty way:).


68 posted on 05/26/2006 12:59:17 AM PDT by RusIvan
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To: RusIvan

Lies and overstament of abilities = the russian mindset to sooth their paranoid delusions


69 posted on 05/26/2006 7:37:30 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
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To: MARKUSPRIME

Lies and overstament of abilities = the russian mindset to sooth their paranoid delusions==

Let live and then see who is really delusional here:). I already red here one guy who said very resentfully here that Putin disgused his country all this years as weak so he relaxed but in reality it turned out that Russia still has her own means and do not that weak at all:).


70 posted on 05/26/2006 11:12:23 AM PDT by RusIvan
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