U.S. missile shield in Europe aimed against Russia - army chief



MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - Missile defense elements the United States plans to deploy in Central Europe are undoubtedly directed against Russia, the country's top military commander said on Tuesday.

Washington wants to place a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland, purportedly to counter a missile threat from Iran and other "rogue" states. Moscow has responded angrily to the plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic balance of forces and threaten Russia's national interests.

"If the Americans deploy the radar by 2011 and anti-ballistic missiles by 2012-2013, they will certainly be directed against Russia, and we can easily prove it," the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Yury Baluyevsky said in an interview with Russia Today, an English-language state TV channel.

He said those advising the U.S. president to create a global missile defense network were driven by a desire to ensure that the U.S. could strike with impunity and prevent any kind of retaliation.

He also reiterated that the alleged Iranian missile threat was used by the U.S. as a simple pretext to deploy weaponry close to Russia's borders, as Iran does not possess the technology to develop and produce long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles.

"There will be no Iranian threat to the United States in the near future. Iran will be unable to create intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States until at least 2020," he said.

"As to the European segment of the missile shield, it is certainly not aimed against Iran," he said, adding that Washington had turned down Russia's proposal to jointly monitor missile test launches in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Baluyevsky's comments came on the eve of his visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels to attend a session of the Russia-NATO Council. His talks with senior NATO officials will focus on the NATO-Russia work plan for 2007 and a variety of ongoing controversial issues, including the U.S. missile shield.

http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20071113/87816955.html


Russia slams U.S. written proposals on missile shield, CFE



MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - The United States has gone back on previous initiatives concerning its missile shield in Europe in a written proposal earlier received by Russia, a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Russia's foreign and defense ministers held talks on October 12 with their U.S. counterparts in Moscow, at which the U.S. side made 'counter proposals' in a bid to allay Russia's concerns over Washington's missile shield plans in Europe, including inviting Russian experts to inspect mooted missile defense sites.

"This time [in written proposals], there is no mention of a joint assessment of threats, the presence of Russian experts at U.S. missile defense sites in Europe. The document does not confirm U.S. willingness not to activate the [missile] shield if there is no real threat," the source said.

The United States plans to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. Moscow views the plans as a threat to its national security.

"Everything is so vague that it is hard to discern previous initiatives in the document," the source said.

He also said Moscow was disappointed with the new U.S. proposals on the future of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which is another issue of discord between Russia and the West.

"We do not see any significant progress [in the written U.S. proposal] on issues raised by Russia concerning the CFE treaty," the source said.

Both houses of the Russian parliament have unanimously supported President Putin's initiative to suspend Russia's participation in the CFE treaty, which the Kremlin calls discriminatory. The measure becomes effective on December 12.

Russia insists it will consider resuming its participation in the CFE treaty only if other signatories fulfilled their obligations under the arms control accord.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071123/89356224.html


Russian Topol-M launching a Satelite
Video -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QIzXI-mlJjs

Russia to rearrange troops due to U.S. missile shield

30/ 01/ 2008

MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Defense Ministry plans to change the configuration of troops in Kaliningrad in response to U.S. missile shield plans in Central Europe, a high-ranking army official said on Wednesday.

"The General Staff and the main combat training department of the Russian Armed Forces are deciding how we will configure the troops," said Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, who heads the Armed Forces combat training directorate.

The general did not indicate whether the troops in the Kaliningrad Region, Russia's Baltic exclave which borders on Poland, will be substantially reinforced.

The United States is planning to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to avert possible strikes from "rogue" states, such as Iran.

Russia has fervently opposed Washington's plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic military balance and threaten Russia's national interests.

Shamanov also said over 230 billion rubles ($9.4 billion) had been allocated for Armed Forces combat training in 2008.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080130/98031412.html

All of this is madness. Everyone knows nukes are pure evil. Everyone knows the world would be better off without them, but no government is quite willing to give them up. If there were a way to give the laws of physics a "virus" that only attacked nuclear fission and made it cease to function, I think I would release it. But that would probably do something horrible and unintended, like Ice-9.

Wow, no wonder my internet connection was so slow. I didn't realize it had all those pictures. Man, I hate dialup.

The missile shield should be near Russia - not that the Russian government would fire one off - but the disarray of the Russian nuclear network is what should scare the USA and our European allies.

They can't keep track of their nukes, they don't pay their military very much, the old soviet countries (whichever-istan) also have security problems.

The Russians should know that we aren't placing these in their backyard because we want to nuke them and stop them from striking back - we are putting them there because they can't control their own house.

redstaterebel wrote:The missile shield should be near Russia - not that the Russian government would fire one off - but the disarray of the Russian nuclear network is what should scare the USA and our European allies.

They can't keep track of their nukes, they don't pay their military very much, the old soviet countries (whichever-istan) also have security problems.

The Russians should know that we aren't placing these in their backyard because we want to nuke them and stop them from striking back - we are putting them there because they can't control their own house.

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Also, I don't think the missile shied was built to stop hundreds of incoming missiles, as there would be if Russia were to launch an attack.