[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] Missile Defense

[Bill Totten]

Washington and Poland just moved the World closer to War

by F William Engdahl

Global Research (August 15 2008)


The signing on August 14 of an agreement between the governments of the United 
States and Poland to deploy on Polish soil US 'interceptor missiles' is the most 
dangerous move towards nuclear war the world has seen since the 1962 Cuba Missile 
crisis. Far from a defensive move to protect European NATO states from a Russian 
nuclear attack, as military strategists have pointed out, the US missiles in 
Poland pose a total existential threat to the future existence of the Russian 
nation. The Russian Government has repeatedly warned of this since US plans were 
first unveiled in early 2007. Now, despite repeated diplomatic attempts by Russia 
to come to an agreement with Washington, the Bush Administration, in the wake of 
a humiliating US defeat in Georgia, has pressured the Government of Poland to 
finally sign the pact. The consequences could be unthinkable for Europe and the 
planet.

The preliminary deal to place elements of the US global missile defense shield 
was signed by Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer and US chief 
negotiator John Rood on August 14. Under the terms, Washington plans to place ten 
interceptor missiles in Poland coupled with a radar system in the Czech Republic, 
which it ludicrously claims are intended to counter possible attacks from what it 
calls "rogue states", including Iran.

To get the agreement Washington agreed to reinforce Poland's air defenses. The 
deal is still to be approved by the two countries' governments and Poland's 
parliament. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in televised remarks that "the 
events in the Caucasus show clearly that such security guarantees are 
indispensable". The US-Polish missile talks had been dragging for months before 
recent hostilities in Georgia.

The Bush White House Press spoksperson, Dona Perino stated, officially, "We 
believe that missile defense is a substantial contribution to NATO's collective 
security". Officials say the interceptor base in Poland will be opened by 2012. 
The Czech Republic signed a deal to host a US radar on July 8.

The signing now insures an escalation of tensions between Russia and NATO and a 
new Cold War arms race in full force. It is important for readers to understand, 
as I detail painstakingly in my book, to be released this autumn, Full Spectrum 
Dominance: The National Security State and the Spread of Democracy, the ability 
of one of two opposing sides to put anti-missile missiles to within ninety miles 
of the territory of the other in even a primitive first-generation anti-missile 
missile array gives that side virtual victory in a nuclear balance of power and 
forces the other to consider unconditional surrender or to pre-emptively react by 
launching its nuclear strike before 2012. Senior Russian lawmakers said on Friday 
the agreement would damage security in Europe, and reiterated that Russia would 
now have to take steps to ensure its security.

Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the Russian State Duma's international affairs 
committee, said the deal was designed to demonstrate Warsaw's "loyalty to the US 
and receive material benefits. For the Americans, it is an opportunity to expand 
its military presence across the world, including closer to Russia. For NATO, 
this is an additional risk ... many NATO countries are unhappy with this, 
including the Germans and the French."

Klimov called the agreement "a step back" toward the Cold War.

Russian response

The US plans to deploy a radar in the Czech Republic and ten interceptor missiles 
in northern Poland as part of a US-controlled missile shield for Europe and North 
America, has been officially sold under the ludicrous argument that it is against 
possible attacks from "rogue states", including Iran. Last Spring then Russian 
President Vladimir Putin exposed the shallowness of the US propaganda line by 
offering a startled President Bush that Russia would offer the US use of Russian 
leased radar facilities in Azerbaijan on the Iran border to far better monitor 
Iran missile launches. The Bush Administration simply ignored the offer, exposing 
that their real target is Russia not "rogue states like Iran". Russia rightly 
views deployment of the US missile shield as a threat to its national security.

The latest Polish agreement advances a Russian response.

Russian officials earlier said Moscow could deploy its Iskander tactical missiles 
and strategic bombers in Belarus and Russia's westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad 
if Washington succeeded in its missile shield plans in Europe. Moscow also warned 
it could target its missiles on Poland.

Russia is also discussing to put in place an orbital ballistic missile system in 
response to US missile defense plans for Central Europe, according to a senior 
Russian military expert.

"A program could be implemented to create orbital ballistic missiles capable of 
reaching US territory via the South Pole, skirting US air defense bases", said 
Colonel General Viktor Yesin, former chief of staff of the Russian Strategic 
Missile Forces, now vice president of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law 
Enforcement Studies.

Previously as part of the post Cold War agreements with the US, agreements which 
have been ´significantly ignored by Washington as it pushed the borders of NATO 
ever closer to Moscow's doorstep, the Soviet Union had abandoned such missiles in 
accordance with the START I Treaty.

Obama backs missile defense too

The deal would further divide European countries into what Barack Obama's foreign 
policy adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski calls openly, US "vassals" and those pursuing 
more independent policies.

Any illusions that a Democratic Obama Presidency would mean a rollback of such 
provocative NATO and US military moves of recent years should be dismissed as 
dangerous wishful thinking. Obama's foreign policy team in addition to father 
Zbigniew Brzezinski, includes Brzezinski's son, Ian Brzezinski, current US Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs. Ian Brzezinski is a 
devout backer of US missile defense policy, as well as Kosovo independence and 
NATO expansion into Ukraine and Georgia.

_____

F William Engdahl is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

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(c) Copyright F. William Engdahl, Global Research, 2008

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