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Israel's increasingly troubled missile defense shield has taken another knock with media reports that budgetary problems could force the U.S. administration to delay funding for the system still being developed by Israel's defense industry. The aid could be put back several months, the liberal Haaretz daily reports. That's likely to heighten Israeli concerns over the vulnerability of the country's cities at a time when the Jewish state faces the growing threat of missile attack on an unprecedented scale from almost every quarter. Haaretz said the problem stems from U.S. President Barack Obama's difficulties in pushing next year's budget through a...

MOSCOW – Russia's lower house of parliament on Friday gave preliminary approval to a U.S.-Russian arms treaty, but decided to delay the final vote until next month. The Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted 350-58 to approve the New START treaty in the first of three required readings. The legislators said they would proceed further after returning from the New Year's vacation that lasts until Jan. 11. Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma's foreign affairs committee, said the full ratification could only happen next month "at the earliest." The New START treaty, which was ratified Wednesday by the U.S. Senate,...

The nuclear-weapons treaty President Obama has negotiated with the Russians may help him make America's erstwhile Cold War adversary happy, but it won't help protect us from the rogue nations that threaten the United States today. Today, the Senate will begin debating the the New START treaty. Democrats want to jam it through with a flock of lame ducks. If ratified, it will force the U.S. to agree to strategic-nuclear-weapons parity with Russia, the direct descendant of a nation that threatened our country's existence for decades. Who would have thought in the year 2010 the United States would be renewing...

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WARREN KOZAK "All war is based on deception." —Sun Tzu In the summer of 1962, the leader of the great Soviet empire, Nikita Khrushchev, faced a serious problem. His huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) didn't work. Their launchers were unreliable, their aim was off and the fuel used to rocket them skyward was so volatile that they had to be stored empty. In case of an attack, they would first have to be tanked up before being fired. The Soviet premier understood that since his ICBMs were a crucial part of his nuclear balance with the U.S., this put him...

President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department -- a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development. The president issued a little-noticed "presidential determination" Sept. 29 that delegated authority for determining whether missile and space exports should be approved for China to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Commerce officials say the shift will not cause controls to be loosened in regards to the export of missile and space technology. Eugene Cottilli, a spokesman for Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security,...

The Arctic Sea cargo ship that disappeared for almost a month earlier this summer, was carrying weapons to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to reports. Mystery has surrounded the ship, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth £1.3 million from Finland to Algeria, since its crew first reported a boarding in Swedish waters on July 24 after a raid by 10 armed English-speaking men posing as anti-narcotics police officers. It was eventually recovered off the coast of west Africa on August 17. Russia has since charged eight men from Estonia, Latvia and Russia...

snip Conversations over the last few weeks with more than a dozen members of Israel's larger national security community--right and left, scholars and military men and women, some coming out of the army and others the air force, some with decades of experience in military intelligence and others in clandestine operations, some former Knesset members and others former, current, and soon-to-be advisers to prime ministers--suggest it is fair to conclude that the professionals agree with the public that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is a game changer. Among them, there is a consensus that Israel has the technological capacity to...

Lawmakers are so far taking a measured approach to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions as the Obama administration and the United Nations Security Council work on avenues to stymie potential nuclear proliferation or an arms race in the region. The congressional recess in some ways has offered a respite from a barrage of statements on current events, but the panels that focus on foreign affairs are not rushing into offering any reaction into how the North Korea situation should be handled. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, helmed by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), will hold a hearing on North Korea in the...

MOSCOW — Russia will deploy missiles near NATO member Poland in response to U.S. missile defense plans, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday in his first state of the nation speech. Medvedev also singled out the United States for criticism, casting Russia's war with Georgia in August and the global financial turmoil as consequences of aggressive, selfish U.S. policies. He said he hoped the next U.S. administration would act to improve relations. In a separate telegram, he congratulated Barack Obama on his election victory and said he was hoping for "constructive dialogue" with the incoming U.S. president ...

The US has said it will not hesitate to defend its interests and those of its allies as Iran continues missile tests. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US had increased its security in the region and Iran should not be "confused" about US capabilities. Iran tested missiles on Wednesday that could reach Israel, and on Thursday carried out further tests. Meanwhile French energy giant Total has said it will not invest in Iran because it is too politically risky. New tests Condoleezza Rice was speaking during a visit to Georgia. She said: "We take very strongly our obligation...

China recently conducted a test of its newest submarine-launched ballistic missile, the Julang-2 (JL-2), which will be deployed on Beijing's fleet of new missile submarines, according to U.S. defense officials. The test launch took place May 29 from a submarine in Bohai Bay, off northern China, and landed in the Yellow Sea. The missile has an estimated range of about 5,000 miles and represents a new generation of strategic nuclear-capable weapons being outfitted on the Type 094 submarine, dubbed the Jin-class by the Pentagon. One defense official said the new JL-2 "shares features with the land-based Dong Feng-31 missile," another...

WARSAW: Whenever the United States sends missile defense negotiators to the Czech Republic and Poland, where the Bush administration intends to deploy parts of its anti-ballistic shield, they encounter surprisingly different attitudes. In the Czech Republic, where negotiations are all but complete, the administration deals with a government that believes that the threat the shield is designed to counter comes from Iran and other "rogue" regimes. "Our rationale for agreeing to accept the radars stems from the fact that we agree about the threats," said Nikola Hynek, a security expert at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. In Poland,...

The United States has agreed to provide Israel with access to its BMEWS (ballistic missile early warning system). The half century old system uses radars and satellites to monitor the planet for ballistic missile launchers (specifically ICBMs, but any large missile launch is detected.) Twice before, in 1991 and 2003, the U.S. allowed Israel to plug into BMEWS (to get warning of Iraqi missile launches). This time around, BMEWS will give Israel warning about any Iranian ballistic missiles headed west. Early on, BMEWS consisted of long range radars that could spot warheads coming over the north pole (from Russia). When...

Russia has no plans to sell its advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, a Russian government agency said on Friday. "The issue of supplying Iran with S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, raised by mass media, is not on the agenda, is not being considered and is not being discussed with the Iranian side at the moment," Russia's Federal Military and Technical Cooperation Service said on its Web site. Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Wednesday Russia had agreed to sell the system to Iran. "The S-300 system, under a contract signed in the past with Russia, will be...

Nearly at the same time it was officially confirmed that the upgraded fighter-interceptor Mig-31 is got a new far range air-to-air missile. Official sources of the Russian Air Force insist that the upgraded Mig-31 can successfully suppress the most advanced means of air attack existing in the armed forces of the leading nations. Its modernized control system of arms allows using guided AA missiles at the range of up to 200 km. The new missile is said to outperform any foreign match.

By CAROLINE GLICK Since the cease-fire was implemented in Lebanon, we have heard scattered reports indicating that a prisoner swap with the Palestinians may be in the works. In exchange for hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian terrorists now held in Israeli prisons, IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists for nearly two months, may be released from captivity. These reports lend weight to the view that things are back to normal. Terrorists kidnap Israelis and hold them hostage and Israel releases terrorists in order to free them. It is a comforting thought for people...

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, possibly using Chinese technology, and is building large bases to prepare for their deployment, a South Korean state-run think tank said. North Korea is also building new sites near the Demilitarized Zone with the South for short-range missiles and is deploying missiles with improved precision that can strike most of Japan, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) said in a report. "The development of Taepodong-2 is conducted jointly with Iran, and it is possible China's technology is used in the...

Says Bush delays news of sanctions on Indian firms WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts congressman Edward Markey yesterday accused the Bush administration of delaying an announcement that the United States plans to impose sanctions on two Indian companies for assisting in Iran's missile program. Markey , a Malden Democrat, said the administration is withholding the announcement for fear that it would jeopardize chances of getting congressional approval for a controversial proposal to sell nuclear technology to India. The measure, which would make India the only country in the world to receive sensitive nuclear technology from the United States without signing the Nuclear...

We have no evidence that the U.S. was able to sabotage North Korea's Taepodong-2 missile, which malfunctioned 42 seconds into launch on Tuesday and crashed. But we do note that special operations forces (SOF) are playing an increasing role, overt and covert, in the world under Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's rule. We also note that one of the reasons that SOF procured the powerful .50- caliber Barrett's sniper rifle was to have the capability to disable ballistic missiles. It's a scenario for missile defense you won't see in any literature from the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency: insert a commando...