Posted on 07/04/2009 6:22:20 PM PDT by reaganaut1
As the Obama administration finalizes its preparations for the Obama-Medvedev summit next week, their vaunted "reset" of U.S. relations with Russia is experiencing some technical difficulties.
With negotiators meeting to work on a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires at the end of this year, the administration is reportedly exploring all options to assuage Moscow's concerns about America's planned foray into its backyard in the form of planned U.S. missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Secretary Gates spoke recently of his hope that Russia might still cooperate with the United States, Poland, and the Czech Republic on a joint missile defense architecture in Europe, a concept which was immediately rejected by a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman.
On June 16, Gates' deputy, William J. Lynn, went further, suggesting that the Czech and Polish sites were just one of several alternatives being considered by the Obama administration. This announcement came as a surprise to a number of members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and to the Czechs and Poles, who have endured Russian threats as a result of signing agreements with the United States last year committing to host the U.S. missile defense sites.
On its face, an attempt to trade missile defense for a new START agreement might seem like a worthwhile bargain. Poland and the Czech Republic have not yet ratified the agreements required to construct the sites, Iran is not yet capable of launching a missile that can reach the United States, and the Obama administration argues the real threat is from short and medium range, not long-range missiles.
But this thinking is flawed for several reasons. [T]he European sites are an important symbol of America's commitment to the security of our NATO allies in central and Eastern Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
"If he abandons the European missile defense sites, President Obama will have succeeded in empowering the ayatollahs in Tehran and the autocrats in Moscow, and will concomitantly put our allies in central and Eastern Europe on notice that they are merely bargaining chips to be discarded when it is convenient."
This is one I take vigorous exception to. WE DO NOT need missile systems in Poland. Anyone who says otherwise is just plain drinking their bathwater.
Obama is stupid, Bush was and is dumb as a box of rocks, he was just doing what the people around him told him to do.
The people who came up with the insanely idiotic idea of basing missile systems in Poland knew it would anger the Russians and could restart an arms race with Russia. The Russians are the most paranoid people on earth and anyone who knows anything about Russia knows it.
Those people simply want to sell expensive weapons systems. PERIOD!
We simply don’t have the money to defend the world any more.
If Poland is willing to pay the full cost of our missiles and troops, let’s consider helping them. Putin is in fact a murderous KGB thug.
They do not have the resources to create or build defensive weapons such as we can provide. Further, we solidify our relationship with treaty nations and extend by proxy our foreign policy.
And to whom should we cede ground to, what nation should we sacrifice? Is Checoslyvakia okay with you?
These systems provide the blunt end and the sharp end of defense and deterrence.
The Russians no longer have a confederacy such as they did during the Cold War. As such, they cannot muster the science and manpower to compete nor do they have the infrastructure in place to build parity in their capabilities.
In fact, they are a dying population with studies showing a possible decline of 30% from 140 million(approx) that would take them down to a population of 100 million.
Of that population you have some 30% addicted to drugs or alcohol. They are killing the dumb brain cells as well the good ones.
Their current military has at best estimates that 50%, that number being a generous, dilapidated or in constant repair military equipment.
They are a great power but, they will never again be a superpower.
They are not going to compete with a United States having a population of more 300 million and growing. With an economy that dwarfs Russia by more 10 times. The US economy is diverse and will grow once again.
When you combine the economies of the US, the EU/NATO partner nations and other pact nations around the world, it is clear Russia could never, ever dream of competing and would likely drain valuable resources, monies and manpower(which is inferior to ours).
So now come Chinese competing for territory in Siberia and Russia will likely have to cede this territory in the next 10 years. China wants to take back what the Russians took and there is little they can do about it.
So you may vigorously take exception but there is not a possibility of an arms race with Russia.
They are to far behind our superior technology and our military growth plans from a strategic stand point or from a technology.
Good luck to Russia, they will not be gone soon but, they will be a marginal player in the next century. Period.
The US getting eaten by the bear seems to be the whole point of that policy.
Those missiles would have posed ZERO threat to Russia. They are defensive missiles, with no offensive capability. The Russians are paranoid, but not stupid. They know that as well as we do.
First off, the purpose of the missile systems we intend to place in Eastern Europe has never been for the defense of Eastern or Western Europe from Russia. It was for defense against missile attacks from the middle east.
Such defense can be accomplished without putting missile systems in Czech or Poland.
Second, have you ever been to Russia? Do you really understand what is going on there? Have you lived in the FSU and do you have an understanding of the Russian mentality?
You should not marginalize Russia or what is going on there and we should not be playing on their paranoia by putting missile systems in their backyard. They are very capable of defending the territory they now have from anyone including the Chinese and they know very well where their Western boundaries are and where they will stay.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union we HAD a great opportunity to have a good relationship with Russia and could have made a huge difference in what happened there, however the brilliant minds in our government had their head where the Sun doesn’t shine and screwed that up.
The bottom line is that installing such systems is STUPID and serves no purpose other than feeding the hunger of a bunch of defense contractors and making relations with Russia much more difficult.
I was talking with a Russian friend about “TRUST”, he smiled and said “There is no word for trust in the Russian language”. Obviously there is.. it is pronounced “Verkoo”, he made his point however.
The Russians are paranoid beyond belief and they trust no one..(most especially other Russians). Any missile system will be viewed as offensive no matter how much we claim otherwise. It is simply the nature of the beast. In 70+ years of dealing with them we have apparently been unable to figure that or how to translate “reset” out. Hillary’s reset button was viewed as stupid and would have been even had the dimwits in the state department been able to come up with the correct word to use.
It is also a political tool to extend our reach and dominance in an area that does not constitute an immediate threat but serves to marginalize other nations.
Certainly those are goals we should pursue.
If you know of another way to take a missile in flight, please let me know as I know of no David with a slingshot that will do that nor can he take the number of threats that would surely be passing overhead. We do mean to intimidate and marginalize aggressors.
More over, the technologies being acquired in the Middle East and other rogue nations, are coming from Russia. We need emplacements to intimidate and marginalize them as well and we only do so on territories friendly to us.
As to your second paragraph you don't seriously expect me to answer that with something on the order or “I can see Russia from my house”. So we will skip it since you use it as a device unqualify anything I might say and that is ridiculous. For you are saying in order to have an opinion it can only be qualified on your premise which is subjective and the definitions can be changed by you. Right.
I don't need to marginalize Russia they are well on their way of accomplishing that all on their own.
The numbers don't lie.
As far as Russia defending Siberia, they are being overrun by Chinese Migration and will soon be outnumbered in the area. They will cede historical territory to the Chinese for some pretty beads, beaver pelts and some fire water. That is just the way it is.
I guess we had an opportunity to pursue a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia after WWII as well. Get serious. Russia wants to remain a great power and that is all they can be and maybe only for another 30 years. They will still be important but their empire is gone and never coming back.
The Soviets have and always view us as competitors and we will always be a challenge to their greatness and position on the world stage.
We have no common history to tie us unlike our historical bond to Great Britain.
What, pray tell, did you or do you see as a/the number of areas where we should logically work together.
Lastly, Russia is a mafia/mob organization and we are suppose to break bread with that?
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