Posted on 02/16/2007 6:29:55 AM PST by Freeport
Russia threatened on Thursday to pull out of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty unless the US backed away from plans to install its missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.
Yury Baluyevsky, the Russian army chief of staff, said Moscow might unilaterally withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, which forced the US and the Soviet Union to ban nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km.
There was “convincing evidence” for leaving the agreement because “many countries are developing and perfecting medium-range rockets”, he said.
But the general also explicitly linked Russia’s stance to the US’s plans to extend its missile defence into central Europe.
The Pentagon is preparing to start negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic about hosting missile interceptors and radars. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Polish prime minister, on Thursday expressed conditional support for participating in the system.
A senior Pentagon official said the US would “resist” the Russian move, which he said would have serious implications for American allies in Europe.
The INF treaty includes the right for a party to withdraw with six months’ notice if “extraordinary events ... jeopardised its supreme interests”. The State Department said Russia had not formally notified the US of any move to abrogate the treaty.
Gen Baluyevsky’s comments came days after Vladimir Putin, Russian president, warned that US attempts to deploy part of its missile shield in Poland could spark a new arms race.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Good. Let them quit
And everybody knows how well the Russians have kept arms treaties in the past. /sarc.
Russia has done everything except declare Cold War II.
They smell blood in the water, they want to arm our enemies and build a coalition with them and weaken our bargaining position as a world power.
Right now, everything is going their way, a Hillary Presidency will escalate this process ten fold.
The truth is that everything is not going there way. We are suceeding in Afghanistan where they could not. Iraq is quickly turning around. We have several former USSR republics such as Lithuania, Ukraine, etc, as well as the soviet block countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria as US allies who will have US bases. the countries that matter, Britain, Australia, Canada, Japan, India are US allies and partners.
The russians are grasping at straws thinking their support for Iran is going to do anything for them. the people there HATE their leaders and would elect GWB over Ahmidinijad, given the chance.
This is simply one more manifestation of the hate America crowd being courted by an advisary. National security aside Democrats will rush to the side of Putin. This is especially true of Ted Kennedy.
Before our eyes we see that Bill Clinton's reference to the vast majority of Americans as "joe Six Pack" was extremely accurate. The majority can not articulate the danger of Iran or the situation in Iraq. The news is propoganda and the sheep follow.
Unless some leaders speak up, we have a problem. The Baker surrender group did not help.
Russia ping.
defense shield in Poland ping.
America quitted the ABM treaty in 2001. Russia wants to do like thing now.
Don't forget Czechoslovakia, et. al. Looks like Putin's Munich speech is FUBAR and is backfiring. Doh!
BTW, God bless the Polish in this case.
Good old "Blood and Guts." "My boys can eat their belts, but my tanks gotta' have gas." Quite the character. I always grin when when I also think about "nuts" McAuliffe. EX:
http://www.thedropzone.org/europe/Bulge/kinnard.html
A: "Nuts!"
Q: "Is the reply negative or affirmative?"
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