http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11965-7007753,00.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>US Tells Russia Missile Shield Is No Threat</b>
28/02/2007 07:48 AM
Adrian Croft
The United States plans to build a missile shield in eastern Europe to protect US allies from attack by Iran and it poses no threat to Russia, US officials said on Tuesday.
The US plan to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland as part of the shield has angered Russia whose president, Vladimir Putin, has described it as a threat to his country's national security.
The head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, dismissed that concern.
"There's no way 10 interceptors based in eastern Europe can challenge the hundreds of missiles and the thousands of warheads that the Russians have," he told a conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, a British defence think-tank.
"It's not the Russians we're worried about. It's the Iranians we are worried about," he said.
(Oh, you bet they're worried about the Russians. Both the Russians and the Chinese can easily beat the US and become superpowers. What country or empire has ever beaten Russia? Not Napolean, not nazi Germany - both lost to Russia and both were destroyed because they threw themselves against Rossiya.
Though I'll admit these puny little interceptors needn't be meant for the Russians at all.)
Washington and Tehran are locked in a confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but which the West says aims to make nuclear bombs.
Obering said there were no defences in place to protect the forces of U.S. allies in Europe from the threat of a long-range missile attack by Iran.
"We're not focused necessarily on what Iran is doing today or tomorrow. We are worried about what they are going to be doing in three or four or five years because that's how long it's going to take us to build these defences," he said.
US officials say the shield is also designed to counter any missile fired from North Korea.
Obering said he had travelled to Moscow to brief Russian officials on the US missile defence plans. "We'll continue to do so, so that they feel more and more comfortable," he said.
He said the United States had invited Russian officials to visit interceptor silos in Alaska and hoped to invite them to the installations in eastern Europe, if they went ahead.
John Rood, assistant US secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, also assured Russia the U.S. plan posed no threat to Moscow.
"The United States has no interest in an arms race with Russia and there won't be an arms race because we don't intend to race," he told the conference.
He said Washington had been deeply disappointed by what he called "Cold War rhetoric" from the Russians about the system.
Britain said last week it was talking to Washington about participating in the shield. In 2003 Britain agreed to let the United States upgrade early warning radar systems at the Fylingdales air base in northern England so that the missile defence project could go ahead.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Just a question, why is the US allowed to build bases everywhere?
Based on the same logic, if I were to become emperor of India (don't worry, no one will let it happen <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) would America just roll over and let me build my bases in the US and Alaska and Mexico, say, and can I have, for instance, large missiles housed in those bases that I could use (at my whim) to point to any country in the Americas if I ever got miffed with anyone? Absolute power sounds so ... empowering. Maybe I <i>should</i> stand for the 'Absolute Monarch'-elections next time they roll round, or, if I fail to get myself democratically elected, I can always crown myself emperor like Napoleon did. You'll all be invited to the ceremony, by the way.
('Liberty, Equality, Fraternity' my foot - after abolishing the monarchy, Napoleon got himself made emperor in papal presence. Sounds like communism, doesn't it? Got to love facts when they're so much better than fiction...)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>US Tells Russia Missile Shield Is No Threat</b>
28/02/2007 07:48 AM
Adrian Croft
The United States plans to build a missile shield in eastern Europe to protect US allies from attack by Iran and it poses no threat to Russia, US officials said on Tuesday.
The US plan to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland as part of the shield has angered Russia whose president, Vladimir Putin, has described it as a threat to his country's national security.
The head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, dismissed that concern.
"There's no way 10 interceptors based in eastern Europe can challenge the hundreds of missiles and the thousands of warheads that the Russians have," he told a conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, a British defence think-tank.
"It's not the Russians we're worried about. It's the Iranians we are worried about," he said.
(Oh, you bet they're worried about the Russians. Both the Russians and the Chinese can easily beat the US and become superpowers. What country or empire has ever beaten Russia? Not Napolean, not nazi Germany - both lost to Russia and both were destroyed because they threw themselves against Rossiya.
Though I'll admit these puny little interceptors needn't be meant for the Russians at all.)
Washington and Tehran are locked in a confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but which the West says aims to make nuclear bombs.
Obering said there were no defences in place to protect the forces of U.S. allies in Europe from the threat of a long-range missile attack by Iran.
"We're not focused necessarily on what Iran is doing today or tomorrow. We are worried about what they are going to be doing in three or four or five years because that's how long it's going to take us to build these defences," he said.
US officials say the shield is also designed to counter any missile fired from North Korea.
Obering said he had travelled to Moscow to brief Russian officials on the US missile defence plans. "We'll continue to do so, so that they feel more and more comfortable," he said.
He said the United States had invited Russian officials to visit interceptor silos in Alaska and hoped to invite them to the installations in eastern Europe, if they went ahead.
John Rood, assistant US secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, also assured Russia the U.S. plan posed no threat to Moscow.
"The United States has no interest in an arms race with Russia and there won't be an arms race because we don't intend to race," he told the conference.
He said Washington had been deeply disappointed by what he called "Cold War rhetoric" from the Russians about the system.
Britain said last week it was talking to Washington about participating in the shield. In 2003 Britain agreed to let the United States upgrade early warning radar systems at the Fylingdales air base in northern England so that the missile defence project could go ahead.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Just a question, why is the US allowed to build bases everywhere?
Based on the same logic, if I were to become emperor of India (don't worry, no one will let it happen <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) would America just roll over and let me build my bases in the US and Alaska and Mexico, say, and can I have, for instance, large missiles housed in those bases that I could use (at my whim) to point to any country in the Americas if I ever got miffed with anyone? Absolute power sounds so ... empowering. Maybe I <i>should</i> stand for the 'Absolute Monarch'-elections next time they roll round, or, if I fail to get myself democratically elected, I can always crown myself emperor like Napoleon did. You'll all be invited to the ceremony, by the way.('Liberty, Equality, Fraternity' my foot - after abolishing the monarchy, Napoleon got himself made emperor in papal presence. Sounds like communism, doesn't it? Got to love facts when they're so much better than fiction...)