America already has 2 such bases - one in California and one in Alaska - to protect the west coast against North Korean attack. This one will protect east coast against Iran.
And it will protect Europe, by the way.
Posted on 01/22/2007 12:57:21 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WARSAW, Poland - The United States has entered a decisive phase in a plan to set up missile defense sites in Eastern Europe — a system Washington says is aimed at protecting itself and its allies against potential attacks from the Middle East.
But the prospect of sophisticated U.S. radar and interceptor systems in formerly communist Eastern Europe has led Russian military leaders to warn of a new arms race. The system "would create a clear threat for Russia," Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin, the chief of Russia's Space Forces, warned Monday.
The United States told Polish leaders it wants to open formal negotiations on the possibility of locating ground-based interceptor missiles in their country as part of a larger missile defense system, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Warsaw said Monday.
Poland's Defense Minister Radek Sikorski indicated a willingness to talk with "our most important ally" on the issue, but said nothing had been decided.
The request comes after two years of exploratory talks and after the neighboring Czech Republic's prime minister said Saturday that Washington had asked to base a radar station in his country as another part of the system.
Washington has repeatedly sought to reassure Russia it has nothing to fear from the system — a message Andrew Schilling, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, echoed Monday. He told The Associated Press a U.S. missile defense system in Europe would be solely aimed at countering "the evolving Middle Eastern ballistic missile threat."
Some experts single out Iran as the motivator behind the U.S. push to develop the system, meant to act as a protective umbrella over most of continental Europe with sensitive radars able to detect ballistic missiles and interceptors that could shoot them down.
"This is completely driven by the threat from Iran," said Riki Ellison, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a non-governmental group that promotes missile defense in the belief it increases world security.
"As Iranians continue to grow both their nuclear capabilities and their ballistic missile capabilities, this site in central Europe is needed," Ellison argued. "Not only for Europe and the troops that the United States has stationed in Europe ... but also for secondary protection of the United States."
Schilling said the request to Polish officials was first made Friday and a "formal diplomatic note" would follow. The U.S. hopes talks on the plan will begin "in the course of the next several months," he added.
Agreement is not guaranteed. Both the Czech and Polish parliaments would have to first approve the plan. Although their governments expressed their support, they are weak and face broad public opposition to the plan. Many fear it will raise the risk of attacks on their countries.
"The current governments are in favor because both of them are right-of-center and Euro-skeptic and they think that as far as security is concerned, they have to maintain very close ties with the United States," said Jiri Pehe, a Czech political analyst and director of New York University in Prague.
By supporting U.S. missile defense, the two European Union members are showing they do not trust the EU to guarantee their security — and are perhaps even trying to prevent the formation of a unified EU defense policy, Pehe said.
So far, four countries have working missile defense shields, including the U.S., which has interceptor bases in California and Alaska. Russia, Israel and Japan also have systems, while about 15 countries are also working to develop them, Ellison said.
In past months, Russian military leaders have occasionally threatened that an expansion of the U.S. system so close to its borders could provoke a new arms race.
But Pehe, the Czech analyst, said Russian threats should be taken with a grain of salt.
"Russians in the past have threatened to do all kinds of things — for example when NATO was enlarged," Pehe said. "I think they are aware that this particular system, if it's ever built, isn't aimed against them. I would see this more as pressure — and a bit of bluffing."
You know that would make Vlady unhappy who care
There, fixed it.
Typical misleading AP headline....
True, huh? Darn .. but there used to be. Thanks! ;-)
I'll have it changed to Czech Republic.
For now...no power can rest easy over another state having the potential power to negate such a huge component of their defences. America would hardly be relaxed if Russia suddenly deployed a capable missile shield even if all our intel indicated they had neither capacity nor interest in us or our allies. No nation wants to risk their safety relying on benign intent from their rivals. I'd fret too if I was Russia. I wouldn't America to use the shield back hostile movements or actions by the west, but I wouldn't want to be in a position where I would be helpless if they did.
Buy EUROX....mutal fund specializing in Eastern Europe. Very volitile but up 50% a year for the past 4 years.
Man, I read the title and I immediately flashed the years ago when I used to play the game Risk.
Quick, start the over flights of Cuba.
Cold war all over is right, this sounds lke Russia is getting bad like they did when we put missles in Turkey.
Not quite clear on the ballistic-defense concept yet, I gather.
I was wondering ....why Poland...thanks!
Missile shield 'threatens Russia'
Says Russia....BBC reporting...
Pace for the moment Putin's creeping re-Stalinization of Russia, I don't see the need to give the Russians an excuse to complain about NATO some more, by locating these launchers in Poland. Would it be mission-critical if the launchers were located a little further along the flight path, say in longtime NATO members Norway and Denmark?
And the associated radars could be located at existing NATO facilities at, say, Incirlik in Turkey, couldn't they? And in Germany, or Greece?
I don't see the need to "de-Finlandize" Eastern Europe gratuitously and build support in Russia for any sort of big rearmament and identification of the West as a "threat". Let sleeping dogs lie, for the nonce.
Pace for the moment Putin's creeping re-Stalinization of Russia,==
Not true. Putin' regime is rather resembleing the regime in Mexico. If Putin was Stalin then all the oligarkhs sat in Gulag right now. Those who abroad got the icecrow on skull:).
Putin' regime is rather resembleing the regime in Mexico.
Well, okay, as if that were some encouragement! People keep dying there, too. ;)
If Putin was Stalin then all the oligarkhs sat in Gulag right now. Those who abroad got the icecrow on skull
Well, if she were alive, Anna Politkovskaya might say that perhaps the replication of Trotsky's assassination has been done. A little more cleanly, or in the case of Alexander Litvinenko, who was investigating Politkovskaya's murder, messily but not at least with an icepick, but nevertheless reproduced in a businesslike manner.
Then there was the matter of Mr. Yushchenko and the Ukrainian elections.
I also find, when I metasearch on "Putin" and "assassination" and "Ukraine", that both Litvinenko and Politkovskaya were Ukrainians. There's also a reference to assassination in Abkhazia as well. Mr. Putin has been busy!
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