This weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin used a world stage in Munich Germany to intimidate the Europeans, send a message to our New Congress and confront our Secretary of Defense Mr. Robert Gates through bold insinuations and hostile criticism of the United States. The crescendo of President Putins focus was his dislike of NATO expansion into the former Soviet Unions eastern block countries to include the placement of U.S. missile defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. Putins cold war rhetoric is much the same as his predecessors from the Soviet Union in eras long gone bye. This propaganda revitalizes fears of the West for Russian internal domestic consumption and allows Russia to lead and enable anti American partnerships to support her policies and to develop markets for Russian weapons and technologies. This is clearly demonstrated as Mr. Putin defended his countrys arms sales to Iran as a way of reaching out to the Middle Eastern Power.
MDAA deplores the remarks and the policy direction set by Russian President Putin as his statements are driven strictly towards the unilateral needs of Russia to compete as a World power. Our two countries are strategically considerably less dangerous and more stable than at any point over the past 50 years, as nuclear weapons totals between Russia and the United States today have come down from over 10,000 per country to an all time low of 2,200 a country. The missile defense system being potentially deployed in Poland of 10 proposed Ground Based Interceptors has no ability to deter, threaten or challenge the Russian ballistic missile forces which are in the thousands. Moreover, this proposed non-offensive system in Poland and the proposed radar in the Czech Republic offers a more effective missile defense than what Russia now has in place for her own country, as this Eastern European Missile Defense system can defend Russian cities along with Eastern European and continental European cities from ballistic missile threats and attacks coming from the Middle East.
It is hard to believe that these remarks by President Putin may in fact solidify, instead of deter the Czech Republic’s and Polands decision to embrace and deploy the missile defense system that would protect all of continental Europe from ballistic missiles from the Middle East. Refreshing Cold War rhetoric also brings back history of Soviet Union occupation to those populations that endured and overcame.
The world is a safer place with missile defense than with out it, as both Russians, Americans and citizens of the world benefit from protection and dissuasion from missile defense.
Do Svidanya
