See?
Posted on 09/20/2009 6:28:02 PM PDT by myknowledge
US President Barack Obama denied that "paranoid" objections from Russia influenced his decision to abandon plans by the former Bush administration to site a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.
"Russia had always been paranoid about this, but George [W] Bush was right, this wasn't a threat to them," Mr Obama said in an interview on CBS show Face the Nation, days before he is set to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the United Nations.
"This program will not be a threat to them. So my task here was not to negotiate with the Russians," Mr Obama said, responding to claims by some domestic critics that his move amounted to appeasement of confrontational Russian policies.
"The Russians don't make determinations about what our defence posture is. We have made a decision about what will be best to protect the American people as well as our troops in Europe and our allies," Mr Obama said.
"If the by-product of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid and are now willing to work more effectively with us to deal with threats like ballistic missiles from Iran or nuclear development in Iran, you know, then that's a bonus."
Mr Obama last week announced that he would shelve plans to site parts of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and instead deploy more mobile equipment targeting Iran's short and medium-range missiles.
The White House has denied it orchestrated a quid pro quo with Moscow by agreeing to halt work on the missile shield in a bid to win more cooperation on issues like Iran's nuclear program.
But foreign policy experts are closely watching to see whether Moscow changes any of its tone in dealing with the United States following the US decision, as both sides seek to "reset" a relationship plagued by Cold War-style rhetoric in recent years.
Russia has broadly welcomed the US move.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday praised Mr Obama's action as "brave" but called for more US measures to lift Soviet-era restrictions on the export of high technology to Russia and to help its World Trade Organisation membership bid.
Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev will meet on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with the Iranian nuclear showdown and joint efforts to agree cuts in strategic nuclear weapons also on the agenda.
The US President's decision on the missile shield means that Washington will not now deploy an anti-missile radar in the Czech Republic or missile interceptors in Poland.
Mr Obama reasoned that a slower than expected development path by Iran on long-range missiles meant that the prime threat to the United States and its allies now came from short and medium-range weapons.
Initially, the new system will see the US military deploy interceptors on ships then seek to deploy land-based technology in Europe from 2015.
In fact, it has emboldened Russia to arm itself to the teeth. This was a biased deal in favor of the Medvedev-Putin Mafiamen.
Huh.
They have his birth certificate.
does Obama just not understand anything
I can say to the Zero, that since I am not in Congress and therefore have no fear of my freedom of speech being denied by political hacks, “YOU LIE”!!!!!
And GE gets a good Russki deal the same day. Hmmm.
"Russia had always been paranoid about this, but George [W] Bush was right, this wasn't a threat to them,"That explains why Russia was dead-set against it. You LIE!
Barack: YOU LIE.
Barack Obama is very rude when he calls (even if he didn't have derision in his tone) his predessor "George Bush." The correct term is "President Bush." GWB is no longer THE president, but he will always be President Bush. O knows he is being insulting when he says "George Bush"...just another example of 0's lack of class.
Did any of the fringe media interviewers ask BO if he was aware that the withdrawal was announced on the 70th anniversary of the soviet union’s invasion of Poland. It’s not a date familiar to most Americans,but surely BO’s people looking into this withdrawal knew about it. I believe it was another deliberate sticking-it-in-the-eye of our western allies.
It wasn’t russian paranoia, it was democrat treachery.
Some things never change.
See?
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