Posted on 08/20/2008 12:26:13 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw's hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Their Enclave Naval Base is on the border of Poland, I think the Poles and the US should take them out preemptively.
IMHO-
Russia makes no sense.
They are using the issue as leverage, to distract from their actions in Georgia and elsewhere, and because they are generally against ANYTHING that strengthens NATO or expands it.
But does their position make any sense? No.
10 Interceptors vs. the Russian inventory of 496 ICBMS, plus SLBMS, aircraft based systems, and theater based systems? Is this a joke?
The argument that it’s 150 miles from their boarder is back ass backwards. This is an argument for the Interceptor! This system isn’t designed for close in lower altitudes and is nothing like a Patriot PAC3. Interceptor is designed for exo-atmospheric mid course intercept.
What about the orientation and placement of fixed radars, etc etc etc.
Even offers to let Russians on the missile sites (Something which poses a security risk for us) isn’t good enough. Even our willingness to allow the Russians to be on those sites themselves and have direct insight into what we are doing and observe the emplacement and day to day operations will not appease this bear for obvious reasons.
The Russian position only makes sense when one does not want to dig deeper, and wants to stay ignorant. It only makes sense to those who want to give them credence in their argument for some ulterior motive. Interceptor is a strictly defensive system (It can deliver a warhead with any real destructive power anywhere), placed in the wrong place, with fixed radars looking the wrong way, in far too small numbers...... too be of any concern for the Russians. But that’s not really the reason the Russians are screaming, is it?
What’s happening is in a way good, but I sure wish it would have happened much sooner and at a time when it does not distract from their actions in Georgia. The Russians are flexing their muscle and showing their true colors since 2005, and many are rethinking that whole “we’re friends” nonsense.
Now the Russia has invaded Georgia, we have decided that we are less concerned about upsetting Russia with the patriot missiles.
I think Poland would have held out for the Patriot missiles, and we would have given them to them anyway, but the invasion of Georgia made it politically more acceptable.
To me, Russia is acting spooked and frightened, possibly even terrified. Their bluster strikes me as evidence of weakness, not strength.
I think they went into Georgia expecting no worse than a slap on the wrist. What they got was more forceful than they expected.
I also think that they’re spooked by the underperformance of their own military. I think they expected to be drinking champagne in Tblisi right now.
They’re in hunker down, make loud threatening noises, try-to-bluff-your-way-out-of-a-bad-corner mode, I think.
You nailed my reasoning. This question is such a no-brainer, killer, to the Obamination’s reasoning, IT’S GOTTA BE ASKED.
Re: “There is no reason for Russia to feel threatened by 10, defensive, interceptors.”
Maybe we need to put the Pershing missiles back in Europe, since Russia is now menacing its neighbors as if it was under the Tsar or Stalin.
We need to send this good one to Rush and have him ask his callers what they think about it.
Oh, he’s not here right now, he ran off with the horse faced girl from Sex in the City.
Russia is bluffing. They used their crack units in Georgia and I bet they are having a lot of logisitical issues in refit and repair.
>>To me, Russia is acting spooked and frightened, possibly even terrified. Their bluster strikes me as evidence of weakness, not strength.>>
I disagree. This is Russian strategy. Burger King in Russia hasn’t changed communism. They have already thought this out and believe the US will stand alone militarily against Russia, and that the US will back down, awarding Russia the top dog status on earth. Problem is, ala Ms. Rice, this is not 1968 and Russia can’t have it their way. This will either end in nuclear war by Russia or in Russia pushing all of the US’s buttons trying to get us to start one first, only to be disappointed.
‘Tis why I am voting for Ron. Conscience clean.
Beware of any entity that seeks to remove your ability to defend yourself from physical threat -
that entity intends to use force at some time in the future to impose its will on you.
And no conservative with any brain cell will allow a Obama Presidency to happen.
McCain has his issues but he is not a liberal that is for certain, moderate yes but not liberal by any sense of the word.And if you define him as such that means your conservatism is so far to the right you probably make that lunatic Buchanan smile, either way it would be outside of the norm.
Creating a pretense for an incursion by Russia. That’s precisely what S. Ossetia was for Georgia. I would imagine they have something planned for Ukraine as well.
Weaken them back to where bows and arrows are superior to stone throwing. Works for me.
Justice
Sorry but I am not willing to wager that a Ronald Wilson Reagan would be on the heals of a 4 year experiment in Obama. Nor am I willing to wager that a great enlightenment of conservatism would swell up in America ringing in a new era of conservative principles. There is too much at stake, the congress, senate right now is so far left and we have so little chance of overtaking it that a McCain Presidency to me is infinitely more palatable than a entirely socialist federocracy.
By standing on a static unbridgeable principle you may as well be standing on the throat of America.
That is why the Russians have tactical nukes based there. Think about it? Does escalation mean nothing to you? Freeper armchair generals out in force yet again!
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