Obama Withdraws From Anti-Missile Shield Along Russian Border

[Semnae]

Obama has withdrawn from the missile shield plans George W. Bush pushed so hard for in Poland and the Czech republic!

U.S. President Barack Obama has told east European states he is backing away from plans for an anti-missile shield there, in a move that may ease Russian-U.S. ties but fuel fears of resurgent Kremlin influence.

Russia said it would welcome abandonment of the plans, which have been a major source of Russian-U.S. tensions.

Poland said Obama would announce a final decision later on Thursday (1400 GMT) on a project that has raised the prospect of multi-billion dollar contracts for U.S. defense giants.

The shield, involving interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar complex in the Czech republic, was promoted by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush to defend against any missile launches from "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.

"Today, shortly after midnight, Barack Obama telephoned me to announce that his government is backing away from the intention of building a missile defense radar on Czech territory," Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters.

"The Czech Republic acknowledges the decision."

A senior Polish source close to the negotiations told Reuters Warsaw had received a similar message. "We will not have the interceptors for now."

A U.S. defense official said Washington was now examining an alternative to the "large, fixed system" of the shield. This would target short- and medium-range missiles rather than the long-range rockets seen until now as the threat.

He gave no details.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper said Washington had decided Iran was not as advanced in developing long range missiles as it had previously thought.

The Obama administration seeks to "reset" battered ties with Russia so that the two former Cold War foes can cooperate on Iran, on fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and on reducing their vast arsenals of nuclear weapons.

Russia is allowing the United States to move trains carrying supplies for U.S. forces across the country via Central Asia to Afghanistan, avoiding routes through Pakistan that had come under frequent attack from the Taliban.

Washington also wants Russian support in economic sanctions against Tehran, which it accuses of developing nuclear weapons.

Diplomats in Moscow say Russian hardliners could read the shield backdown as a sign of U.S. weakness. Far from doing the bidding of the United States, they may instead press for further gains to shore up Russian power in the former Soviet bloc.

Eastern European states, especially Poland and the Baltic states, saw the missile plan as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the defense of the region against any encroachment by former Soviet masters 20 years after the collapse of communist rule.

IRANIAN MISSILES

Some east Europeans see Russia's brief war with Georgia last year and confrontations with Ukraine over gas supplies as symptoms of a Russian 'neo-imperialism' driven by a view of eastern Europe as belonging to Moscow's sphere of influence.

"This would be very bad," said Witold Waszczykowski, deputy head of Poland's National Security Bureau which advises President Lech Kaczynski. "Without the shield we would de facto be losing a strategic alliance with Washington."

Ignoring U.S. assurances that the system was not targeted at Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev threatened last year to station missiles in a Russian enclave near Poland if the United States implemented the plan.

For Poland, the timing of the announcement is particularly sensitive. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland following a pact between Moscow and Nazi Germany, an event seen by Poles as "a stab in the back."

"I hope this is just a coincidence," said Waszczykowski.

The West is also concerned about Iran's nuclear research program, which it believes is a cover for development of an atomic bomb. The Islamic Republic says it wants to use nuclear technology only for power generation and to allow it to export more oil and gas for foreign currency.

A senior Iranian government source said the move could signal a move away from what he called 'threats and confrontation'.

"There could be two reasons behind such a decision; either the U.S. has reached the conclusion that Iran is not a threat, or the Russians may have convinced the Americans that there is no need for such a defense shield."

Multi-billion dollar contracts contested by U.S. defense giants are at stake in the future of U.S. missile-defense plans.

Boeing Co, the Pentagon's No.2 contractor, last month unveiled a proposal to build a mobile interceptor missile in a bid to blunt Russian fears of U.S. fixed sites in Europe.

Boeing, which manages the hub of a layered U.S. anti-missile shield deployed in 2004, was eyeing a 47,500-pound interceptor that could be flown to NATO bases as needed. -Reuters

[relic2279]

I know some Europeans might not like this, but I do. It was a waste of our tax payer dollars. And the key thing here is:

"The Obama administration seeks to "reset" battered ties with Russia so that the two former Cold War foes can cooperate on Iran".

I almost think Russia was trying to sell Iran arms just to spite us for that missile defense shield.

[lx4]

I really hope they got something big from Russia in exchange for this.

[AceHigh]

I know some Europeans might not like this, but I do. It was a waste of our tax payer dollars.

I like it very much, easing tensions is a good thing since if it provokes war, the battleground will be here, and not in US. Also, yes, it's a waste of taxpayers money. Now you have more budget for universal healthcare 

[fohfoh]

I know some Europeans might not like this, but I do. It was a waste of our tax payer dollars.

I like it very much, easing tensions is a good thing since if it provokes war, the battleground will be here, and not in US. Also, yes, it's a waste of taxpayers money. Now you have more budget for universal healthcare insurance companies 

Fixed.

But seriously, quite a bit of that anti-missile stuff is unnecessary in the current day and age. Unless USA really wants to begin pissing people off and starting WW3 to "help" the "economy".

[flamedance58]

I'm kinda surprised the USA didn't just say that the anti-missile stuff is for USA only and that other countries would have to pay premium to get the same thing

Just a question but isn't this the same anti-missile thing that Russia or Germany threatened to nuke Europe if the US tried to install it?

[darkjedi]

Just a question but isn't this the same anti-missile thing that Russia or Germany threatened to nuke Europe if the US tried to install it?

To the best of my knowledge, no. I don't even know how Germany can be involved here >.> seeing that it has no nuclear capability and is an ally of the U.S.


The U.S. is going to replace this anti-missile shield with a more extensive one near the Baltic sea and the Persian Gulf with PAC-3/SM-3/THAAD systems. It's more suited to defending against an Iranian attack which is more geared towards 'volume of fire' and 'saturation' rather than 'precision strike'.

[AceHigh]

To the best of my knowledge, no. I don't even know how Germany can be involved here >.> seeing that it has no nuclear capability and is an ally of the U.S.

Germany has already requested that USA should remove their nukes from German territory because of old age. Yes, USA placed their nukes in Germany, which means that if they even wanted a nuclear capability, they can obtain it within 20 minutes with the help of KSK and GSG9. Not that they would ever want it, their government is already against peaceful nuclear power plants.

[darkjedi]

“Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back.” (LOL!)

(click to show/hide)

Obama's gift to Russia and Iran

By E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl nailed it: President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe “turns back the clock to the days of the Cold War, when Eastern Europe was considered the domain of Russia.”

You can be sure that Poland and the Czech Republic, where the missile facilities would have been based, have gotten the message, even as temporizers in Washington pretend Obama’s move was deft and clever.

The lead headline in a Polish newspaper declared, “Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back.” A Czech business paper concluded, “an ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia …”

Poland and the Czech Republic are members of NATO, the North Atlantic alliance. Members pledge that an attack against one is an attack against all.

But now that Moscow has successfully faced down the Obama White House, the Poles and Czechs naturally wonder where they stand.

The administration says it will post regional defenses against Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles. But the facilities in Eastern Europe — a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland — not only would have been a counter to Iran’s push to improve its missile technology. The plan would have backed up the U.S. commitment to the defense of Eastern Europe with a permanent physical presence.

All along, critics of missile defense have repeated the mantra “it doesn’t work,” even as the technology has steadily improved and new layers of defense for shorter-range threats have been added, augmenting interceptors now installed in Alaska and California.

What the skeptics miss is the significant change caused by missile defense in a rogue state’s calculation of risk. Even a system rated at, say, 50 percent effectiveness will give pause: An adversary must consider the grave implications of an act of war against a U.S. ally, only to have its best shot swatted down.

Rogue states such as Iran and North Korea know they can never match the U.S. advantage in conventional warfare. Missile technology, combined with nuclear weapons development, is an asymmetric strategy — an attempt to make an end run around the U.S. conventional advantage.

We’re told the Iranians aren’t making as much progress in long-range missile development as earlier believed, and in any case they’re far from mastering the miniaturization technology needed for nukes fitted to missile warheads.

Perhaps so, yet our intelligence agencies have been miserable at predicting the speed at which threats appear. We were surprised by the Pakistani nuke. When we went into Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991, the Pentagon discovered that Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was much farther along than we believed.

The time to have your defense in place is before the appearance of the threat. Even if a real threat is years hence, the very presence of a defense — however imperfect — can influence decision-making. It may have a deterrent effect on the willingness of rogue states to spend scarce resources on a technology whose usefulness would steadily decline as our defenses become more elaborate.

Obama has delivered a gift to both Moscow and Teheran, apparently without asking anything in return. Last year, Democrats went around saying they favored a foreign policy that was “tough but smart.” If appeasing Russia is an example, what we’ve got here is more along the lines of weak and naive.

Perhaps so, yet our intelligence agencies have been miserable at predicting the speed at which threats appear. We were surprised by the Pakistani nuke. When we went into Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991, the Pentagon discovered that Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was much farther along than we believed.

Seems like the U.S. likes to admit its intelligence service's incompetence only when convenient. Rofl

[relic2279]

Seems like the U.S. likes to admit its intelligence service's incompetence only when convenient. Rofl

Ah the internet... the only place that can simultaneously believe the American government to be so incompetent that it can't find its own ass while at the same time having the means and wiles to pull off airtight trans-national conspiracies with the flair of a James Bond villain.

Seriously though. I highly doubt Russia is going to attack Poland or Czech any time soon. It's just not going to happen, especially under a NATO umbrella and being members of the EU. It would start the next world war and Russia would lose.

Their only worry should be Iran. And I still don't see Iran sitting around having tea one day and just out of the blue saying "You know what?, Fuck Poland. LAUNCH THE MISSILES! ALLAHU AKBAR!"
If they're going to attack someone, it'll be Israel.

So to be honest, the missile defense shield is pretty useless in my eyes. Just a waste of money and another way to line defense contractors and politicians pockets. If they want a missile defense shield so bad, have the EU build them one. I'm sure plans can be found on the internet.

[darkjedi]

I really can't believe that Poland actually made “Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back.” as its newspapers' headline XD


Btw the U.S. dropped the missile shield to gain concession from Russia with regards to Iran. Implicitly the U.S. wants Russia to similarly disarm its strategic interests in the Middle East also.

[Kowal]

Think it's a bit about the fact that Russia still acts as if they own Poland which they obviously don't therefore that was a main reason they didn't want U.S. to put the shields there. No idea what's with the stupid headlines though >_>

[lx4]

Poland understands that the only country strong enough to protect them from Russia is the US. They have made sure to unquestionably support America. Sending large forces to both Iraq and Afghanistan and never saying anything critical about Guantanamo or any other questionable part of American foreign policy. They are rightfully feeling betrayed by this decision.

[darkjedi]

Iran missiles!

(click to show/hide)

Looks cool. @_@

(click to show/hide)

Fucking COOL! @>@

(click to show/hide)

Poland does not stand a chance LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[AceHigh]

Poland understands that the only country strong enough to protect them from Russia is the US. They have made sure to unquestionably support America. Sending large forces to both Iraq and Afghanistan and never saying anything critical about Guantanamo or any other questionable part of American foreign policy. They are rightfully feeling betrayed by this decision.

I wonder if in this day and age Poland even needs a protection from Russia. They just wouldn't make a move against a country who is both in EU and Nato, it's not in their doctrine. The only effect this may have on Poland is less tense relations with Russia 

[darkjedi]

Mm, what about Iran and North Korea? Bush said the missile defense was for Iran and NK lol

How someone can actually believe that NK's gonna attack Europe instead of America itself, I have no idea. xD

[erious]

“Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back.” (LOL!)

I'm from Poland so I'll clarify that - the headline was run in "Fakt" a tabloid widely regarded by everybody with half a brain as worthless piece of shit. They're sensationalist, populist, and never did anything even vaguely resembling journalism. So please don't think the whole country is as retarded as them(ok, big part of it probably is, but it's the same deal wherever you go).
Majority of the people are absolutely okay with US abandoning the Anti-Missile Shield in it's current form. Sure ,there's the thing that our government whored us out to US for quite some time, for no apparent benefit, but most people don't blame US for that.

[relic2279]

When I think of Iran and missile pics, I think of the famous photoshopped one:

(click to show/hide)

Nobody should be scared, because this would happen:

(click to show/hide)

Nah, Just kidding. This is what would really happen:

(click to show/hide)

[darkjedi]

I wonder who has that many missiles in service to waste them on just 4 TEL's >.>

[AceHigh]

I'm from Poland so I'll clarify that - the headline was run in "Fakt" a tabloid widely regarded by everybody with half a brain as worthless piece of shit.

Wait, "Fakt" as the english "fact"? Nice name for a tabloid  

Besides I will go to war against Russia myself if they dare to invade Poland before The Witcher 2 is released