Fear The Shield
Fear The Shield
Skeptics of missile defense should take note of Russia’s paranoia about the U.S. missile defense in Europe.
[U.S. missile shield holding up nuclear deal: Putin- Reuters]
There’s a reason for Russia’s unreasonable stand: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin believes something many in the U.S. scoff at, namely that the anti-missile system probably works, and Russia has nothing like it.
The U.S. missile shield, which is actually a series of overlapping shields, is far from impenetrable, and Russia’s argument that it changes the old cold war balance of terror is specious, given that Russia’s vast arsenal of ICBMs could easily overwhelm the limited number of U.S. interceptors in Europe and Alaska.
But it’s the technology that scares them. If the U.S. can shoot down one missile today, and maybe a dozen next decade, why not hundreds someday soon? And they’re convinced we can shoot down missiles in flight.
While missile defenses ARE as the name implies “defensive”, as any military thinker knows, better defensive gives you an offensive advantage. In fact missile defenses may be the only thing that can insert uncertainty into the calculations of emerging nuclear threats such as Iran and North Korea.
The Russian instance that the U.S. scrap its missile shield is a test for President Obama, who wants to extend an open hand to the Russians in his laudable goal of reducing nuclear stockpiles and getting help containing Iran. (The Russians have already seen through the U.S. ploy that briefly placated Moscow earlier this year, a revamping of the missile program that simply rearranged the elements and rejiggered the timelines, but did nothing to stop deployment of missile defenses in Europe.)
Reducing the number of nukes in the interest of both the United States and Russia, as are missile defenses by the way. If Putin could put his pride aside, and his country first, he could see that.
Tags: Missile Defense, Obama, Putin, Russia
