By DemocracyRules
Russia Doesn’t Like It and neither does the MSM
The US and the Czech Republic's leaders agreed to place a radar system to warn of long-range missiles coming from Iran. The agreement still has to pass in the Czech parliament. NATO endorsed the plan in April.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek referred to "our joint desire to protect the free world". "We were in the past in a similar situation and then we failed. We did not accept the Marshall Plan...we should not allow a second error of this kind." He said his country could not afford to miss out as it had done after the Second World War, when it fell under Soviet influence. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said, "This treaty will not only increase security of the Czech Republic but also of Europe and beyond”.
The system would also have 10 interceptor missiles in Poland or Lithuania. In February Putin said Russia could aim missiles toward missile defense sites and deploy missiles in the Baltic Sea region near Poland.
Russia is afraid a Strategic Missile defense system placed near them could shoot down their ICBMs. Russia has a point, a long-range anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland might be able to shoot down Russian ICBMs heading toward Britain or France. Russia is falling farther and farther behind in the military arms race. They just don’t have anywhere near enough money to keep up. The allied democracies vastly outspend the Russians on defense.
The economies of the major Allied Democracies, including the USA, the EU, Japan, and Canada:$34 trillion. Russia: $2 trillion.
The allied democracies are making good progress on many types of anti-missile defense systems. The old idea that you “can’t hit a bullet with a bullet” is gone. The best-known systems are the Patriot batteries used in Israel during the First Gulf War against Iraqi Scuds.
Much more has been developed since then. The main anti-missile types are short-range (battlefield-tactical) Mid-range (regional defense) and long-range (Strategic Missile defense). Some are missiles themselves, others are high-powered automatic Gatling guns, electronic jammers, lasers, and air-burst weapons, which are also deployed or in development. My favorite is the AirBorne Laser (ABL), an eyeball type laser mounted on the nose of a 747 which zaps missiles just after launch.
Condi said the Czech agreement is a step forward for international security, but the system will not be targeted at Russia. I regularly read Kommersant.ru, an English-language Russian web daily. Russia routinely bullies and threatens its neighbors. They all hate it, and many want to increase ties with the West.
Russia is making vague noises about retaliating by military means after the Czech agreement. "We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They gave no details. It’s funny how the Russians so often ‘feel forced’ to do things. Personally, I’m not forcing them. Maybe someone else is.
Rice is also concerned about Russia’s bullying of Georgia over the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. She said, "We have said both Georgia and Russia need to avoid provocative behavior but frankly some of the things the Russians did over the last couple of months added to tension in the region... Georgia is an independent state. It has to be treated like one. I want to make very clear that the US commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity is strong." Rice goes next to Bulgaria and Georgia, to stress US support for Georgia's application for NATO membership.
"...Russia is falling farther and farther behind in the military arms race. They just don’t have anywhere near enough money to keep up..."
That sentence is what most frightens me. I served during the Carter administration (the cold war), and to say we were motivated be the fear of the unknown wouldn't be far from the truth.
My job was to work on the planes (and later fly as air crew) that hunted Submarines. We knew where 92% of the Soviet subs were at all times. It was the remaining 8% that made us nervous.
Putin may still bring back that ideology, only this time; he'll be more desperate and willing to sell... things... to people with the cash.
Posted by: gawfer | July 08, 2008 at 10:41 PM