Washington plays Russian roulette with missile defense in Europe

[Lodestar]

U.S. over-reaching power play?

Washington plays Russian roulette with missile defense

In his recent annual meeting with the media, Russian President Vladimir Putin replied to a question about the rumored placement of Russian Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad on Poland’s doorstep.

He stated that US missile defense remains a threat to Russian national security and that Russia has the right to place Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, but claimed that that step had not yet been taken. Putin added however that putting Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad would be a logical response to American plans to build a missile defense system in Europe. What few in the West, outside a handful of military experts grasp, however, is that the US project to install so-called Ballistic Missile Defense missiles and special radar in Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Bulgaria is the highly provocative act by Washington against Russia and risks putting the world on a hair-trigger to a nuclear war.

Putin’s remarks followed a report in the ardently-pro US German daily, Bild Zeitung. Several days before Putin’s remarks, Bild newspaper reported that secret satellite imagery showed Iskander-M missiles stationed near the Polish border. Both Bild and mainstream US and European media portrayed the Kaliningrad report as a confirmation of Russian aggression, and a return to the Cold War.

In point of fact, for Washington and the US military, the Cold War never ended. Washington’s Missile Defense is the most extreme provocation imaginable in a nuclear era. It is an atomic version of Russian Roulette that makes the likelihood of a preemptive reaction by Moscow against Polish missiles or Czech AMD radar highly logical. A bit of background is useful.

read more:
http://rt.com/op-edge/washington-russian-roulette-missile-defense-831/


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11 Feb. 2014
First of four US Navy ships to support NATO Ballistic Missile Defense arrives in Spain

The first of four US Navy destroyers, which will form a centerpiece of NATO’s Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) arrived in its new home port at the Spanish Naval Base of Rota, on Tuesday (11 February 2014).

The USS Donald Cook, a multi-mission Missile Defence-capable Aegis Destroyer, equipped with the high-tech Aegis combat system, will be permanently based in Rota. The destroyer will carry out missile defence, among many other tasks, including maritime security operations, bi-lateral, and multi-lateral training exercises, and NATO operations and deployments, including participation in the Standing NATO Maritime Groups.
“For the first time, a ship of the United States Navy equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile-defence system is permanently based in Europe” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “The arrival of the USS Donald Cook marks a step forward for NATO, for European security, and for transatlantic cooperation.”
Three additional ships of the same class will join the USS Donald Cook over the next two years. The USS Donald Cook and her sister ships have advanced sensor capabilities and interceptor missiles which can detect and shoot down ballistic missiles.
By hosting these ships, Spain is making a vital contribution to NATO Missile Defence, enhancing the security of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic Ocean, while shortening the response time for U.S. ships. In November 2010, at the Lisbon NATO Summit, Heads of State and Government, decided that NATO will develop a missile defence capability to protect all NATO European populations and territory. Interim capability of the system was declared at the NATO Summit in Chicago in 2012. Full capability is foreseen for the first half of the next decade.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-2E3B37E6-B13BD831/natolive/news_106997.htm?selectedLocale=en

[Lodestar]

1. The Cuban missile crisis all over again. n/t

[Lodestar]

2. Russia, US Face New Strains Over Missile Defense

The trigger for the latest flare-up is the unfolding NATO missile defense shield in Europe, and specifically the departure from the U.S. on Friday of the first of four destroyers that will form part of the sea- and land-based system, designed to protect U.S. forces and European allies by intercepting and destroying incoming ballistic missiles.

From their new home port near Gibraltar in southwestern Spain, the USS Donald Cook and three other Arleigh-Burke class destroyers with ballistic missile defense (BMD) capabilities will patrol the Mediterranean region. Together with interceptor facilities to be built in Romania and Poland, and radar in Turkey, their aim will be to respond to any medium-range ballistic missile threat from the Middle East, primarily from Iran.

By 2018 the aim is for the shield, known formally as the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), to provide a protective umbrella over the whole of Europe.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel noted the destroyer’s departure and underlined the “unwavering” U.S. commitment to Europe and the EPAA.

Russia remains bitterly opposed to the shield, contending despite the Pentagon’s repeated assurances over several years that it will weaken its nuclear deterrent.

- See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/russia-us-face-new-strains-over-missile-defense#sthash.w1672uVB.dpuf

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Personally I think Europe needs some sort of defense what with Russia on top, China just to the east and Iran to the south, however there is 'protection' and then there is provocation. I wonder if Europe had developed their own weapons of defense if Russia would be quite so vocal seeing as they have the obvious military advantage in the region and it would only make sense that Europe could defend itself from aggression. Even if that were the case I'm guessing the U.S. would make a massive contribution to their defenses.
At any rate, it seems to me that all of this will lead to a standoff at some point akin to the Cuban Missile Crisis. And I think that time is nearer than we think.