Wow. Just… wow.
…cent,” General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
He added that Russia’s military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons, if they in some way help them”. General Nogovitsyn also said that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems.
It’s hard to understand just what the hell is going on in the heads of many of the Russian higher-ups. Clearly this is part of an effort to regain the former Warsaw Pact nations as part of a resurgent Russian empire, but it looks like they may be overplaying their hand. Rather than scaring their former vassal states into subission, they may be scaring them straight into NATO. Granted, the EU nations and by extension much of NATO are a bunch of damned wusses, but at *some* point someone will stand up to Putin and his gang and tell ’em to get bent.
7 Responses to “Suddenly missile defense is looking like a good field of endeavor again”
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I’m pretty sure the main reason for the attack on Georgia was to destroy the British-owned oil pipeline going through it (it was indeed destroyed), which was a threat to Russia’s oil and gas pipeline monopoly to Europe.
What exactly will happen if Putin cuts off all oil and gas shipments to Europe will be interesting, to say the least.
Right around now, I imagine the Ukraine is really regretting their decision to ship all the nuclear weapons on their soil back to Russia after the Soviet Union fell.
The Polish BMD system will drive Russia to invest in stealthy cruise missiles, or MARVs to outmaneuver the interceptors.
It’s a bit odd that the Polish ABM base to deal with missiles from the Mideast will also be equipped with Patriot SAMs as well as ABMs.
> The Polish BMD system will drive Russia to invest in stealthy cruise missiles, or MARVs to outmaneuver the interceptors.
Good. Let Putin blow his petrorubles on another set of empire-ruining boondoggles.
Scott,
Man – oh – man! Down here in Huntsville we’re just lovin’ this stuff!
I’m currently pulling a gig as a consultant working at Boeing’s GMD effort here in Huntsville and Vladimir’s whining is just about as big news as you can get in these parts. Boeing’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense anti-ballistic missile system is manufactured here in Huntsville and I’m working on the proposal which will continue the contract for it through its “EC” phase (European Capability.)
To date, that EC part of the new contract had been viewed as something of an “option” due to the dicey politics of it.
Now?
Well, the more the Soviets… uh… Russians, yeah, that’s it; Russians… bluster, the more it looks like those Boeing built (Raytheon, actually but Boeing’s the prime) interceptors will soon be filling their freshly dug silos out there in Poland.
‘Bout damn time to!
Madoc
“Well, the more the Soviets… uh… Russians, yeah, that’s it; Russians… bluster, the more it looks like those Boeing built (Raytheon, actually but Boeing’s the prime) interceptors will soon be filling their freshly dug silos out there in Poland.”
Assuming the Russians are serious about not wanting the ABMs in Poland, then the time to attack them is when construction of the base starts, not waiting till it’s finished. That means there will be a lot of American contractors there when the attack occurs.
And if they don’t attack after threatening to do so, they will look like weaklings and lose even more respect in the world, so they probably will attack.
What exactly happens then is anyone’s guess; but if things go exactly the wrong way (they attack, US workers are killed, Poland demands NATO retaliation on Russia for the attack, and the US loses respect if we don’t do something in retaliation) Then you might just end up with WW III starting inside of the next few months.
Which would be the perfect ending for the incredibly inept Bush administration, and its looney tunes foreign policy.
With all the really dangerous stuff going on in the world at the moment – Netanyahu getting ready to take over Israel and probably attacking Iran, Musharraf getting tossed out as leader of Pakistan and new tensions in Kashmir as well as Al Qaeda sneaking over the border from Afghanistan, The Taliban closing in on the Afghan capital, and Russia threatening nuclear attack on Poland, I get the feeling of all these gears rotating and starting to interlock in some sort of giant bomb detonator, like that goofy gear-driven one in “Goldfinger”.
> Which would be the perfect ending for the incredibly inept Bush administration, and its looney tunes foreign policy.
So… you’re saying the US should attack the Russians *first?* Or are you saying that the US should just continually roll over for every thug out there?
It’s difficult determining what y’all on the Left want sometimes.
If Europe wanted to defend itself against missile attack, then it should have been Europe who builds and deploys the system.
In theory, this system is supposed to protect the United States from missile attack from Iran or North Korea.
But the administration has already stated that the US will not tolerate Iran or North Korea developing ICBMs. So who precisely is supposed to fire the missiles this system is designed to intercept?
Also, the Polish/Czech ABM was not supposed to pose any threat to Russia despite their qualms about it.
So what happens next? The Russians send troops into the breakaway provinces in Georgia, and in retaliation the US inks the ABM deal with Poland and throws in Patriot missiles as well as ABMs.
If this base is supposed to have no relation to Russia, then I assume that either Iran or North Korea now must have either very long range cruise missiles or Bear bombers that they intend to attack the Polish base with.
The Patriots only other viable targets would be something along the line of medium range missiles, not things fired from the mid or far east.
There’s another interesting aspect to all this; the missile proposed for the Polish base are going to be two-stage derivatives of the three-stage ones based in Alaska, which implies they are less capable than the Alaskan ones. If we intend to destroy missiles heading for the US with this system, then you would want the three-stage ones in Poland also, as the presumed ICBMs will be at very high altitude and speed as they pass over the Polish site on their way to the US.
Also, why are we putting the radar in the Czech Republic and the ABMs in Poland? The further the two are apart the more likely a communications breakdown will occur between them, and either is useless without the other.
But you can see where that is heading…that problem will be pointed out after (and if) the Polish base is finished.
And the solution will be obvious; there needs to be a radar built right next to the Polish base, and ABMs installed right next to the Czech radar.
> If Europe wanted to defend itself against missile attack, then it should have been Europe who builds and deploys the system.
Oh, I agree! And I agree with your larger point, to wit:
“If [Person or Group] wanted [products and/or services], then it should have been [Person or Group] who [pays for/builds] the [products and/or services].”
Now, apply that to, say, Social Security, healthcare, housing assistance, etc.
> the administration has already stated that the US will not tolerate Iran or North Korea developing ICBMs.
The Administration will not, of course, remain in power for much longer. But an Obama administration may feel otherwise. Thus an Iranian ICBM may be intolerable today, but in Feb, 2009, it may well be another story.
> If we intend to destroy missiles heading for the US with this system
We aren’t. They are not “defense of the US” missiles, but “defense of Europe” missiles.
>there needs to be a radar built right next to the Polish base, and ABMs installed right next to the Czech radar.
Agreed. The more, the better.