YAH!!!!! Obama administration to announce decision to shelve missile defense shield in Europe The Obama administration is shelving a European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia, a U.S. ally said Thursday. The Pentagon confirmed a "major adjustment" is planned. Jan Fischer, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, one of two countries where the system was to be built, told reporters that Obama phoned him overnight to say "his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory." Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "We have made a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system that will better protect our forces deployed in Europe and our allies there from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles." He said the change comes in part because the U.S. has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed. "While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said. Details were expected to be announced later Thursday. Obama's top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defense shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W. Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results. Obama faced the dilemma of either setting back the gradual progress toward repairing relations with Russia or disappointing two key NATO allies, the Czech Republic and Poland, that agreed to host components of the planned system. Morrell said Thursday, "This improvement to the system has nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with Iran." NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the U.S. decision "a positive step." And Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said, "It reflects understanding that any security measure can't be built entirely on the basis of one nation." Czech government spokesman Roman Prorok said Ellen Tauscher, a U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was briefing Czech officials in Prague and Polish officials in Warsaw on Thursday about Obama's decision. "This would confirm that Central Europe is not in the center of the Obama administration's interest," said Jaroslaw Gowin, lawmaker for Poland's ruling Civic Platform party. "But maybe the U.S. will offer us an alternative." Piotr Paszkowski, spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press he would wait for the U.S. announcement before commenting. Defense Secretary Robert Gates scheduled a news conference Thursday morning with a top military leader, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who has been a point man on the technical challenge of arraying missiles and interceptors to defend against long-range missiles that an aggressor such as Iran might lob at the U.S. or its allies. Obama took office undecided about whether to continue to press for the European system and said he would study it. His administration never sounded enthusiastic about the plan, and European allies have been preparing for an announcement that the White House would not complete the shield as designed. The decision comes as the Obama administration has been seeking closer ties with Moscow and as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is preparing to visit the United States next week for the U.N. General Assembly and the Group of 20 nations economic summit. The plan for a European shield was a darling of the Bush administration, which reached deals to install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic — eastern European nations at Russia's doorstep and once under Soviet sway. Moscow has argued that the system would undermine the nuclear deterrent of its vast arsenal. Medvedev has praised Obama for reviewing the plans, though the U.S. administration has maintained the Bush administration's argument that the European missile defense plans are aimed at countering a threat from Iran and pose no threat to Russia. At an Army missile defense conference last month, military officials discussed possible alternatives for European missile defense, including using shorter-range interceptors from other locations closer to Iran. Cartwright also has discussed ways the United States might join forces with other nations to watch and protect against Iranian missiles. Using multiple sensors, including some in the Persian Gulf region, theoretically could provide at least a partial shield for Eastern Europe without basing a full radar and interceptor system so close to Russia.
here's a non-YAH!!! perspective. [rquoter]Barack Obama surrenders to Russia on Missile Defence By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: September 17th, 2009 I blogged a couple of weeks ago that the Obama administration was about to abandon its plans for Third Site missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. I wrote then that “if enacted, this would represent a huge turnaround in American strategic thinking on a global missile defence system, and a massive betrayal of two key US allies in eastern and central Europe. Such a move would significantly weaken America’s ability to combat the growing threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missile program, and would hand a major propaganda victory to the Russians.” It now looks as though the president has surrendered to Russian demands to kill off Third Site. Michael Goldfarb at The Weekly Standard is reporting that: “According to reliable sources, Obama administration officials are on their way to Poland and the Czech Republic to deliver very bad news. The administration intends to cancel completely the missile defense sites that had been promised to these governments by the previous administration.” Goldfarb also links to a post by leading defence expert Gary Schmitt, who writes: “Guess who’s coming to dinner (in Warsaw)? Four senior Obama officials, including Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security “Sandy” Vershbow, are apparently in the air right now on their way to Poland. Why? If the Washington hot rumor mill is right, to deliver the news to the Poles and then the Czechs that the administration has decided not to go forward with a missile defense system for Europe and the United States against the budding missile threat from Iran.” This is bad news for all who care about the US commitment to the transatlantic alliance and the defence of Europe as well as the United States. It represents the appalling appeasement of Russian aggression and a willingness to sacrifice American allies on the altar of political expediency. A deal with the Russians to cancel missile defence installations sends a clear message that even Washington can be intimidated by the Russian bear. What signal does this send to Ukraine, Georgia and a host of other former Soviet satellites who look to America and NATO for protection from their powerful neighbour? The impending cancellation of Third Site is a shameful abandonment of America’s friends in eastern and central Europe, and a slap in the face for those who actually believed a key agreement with Washington was worth the paper it was written on.[/rquoter]
I'm not normally one to point out racism, but does every article have to have some subtle reference to the fact that our president is black?
THis is fantastic news. Well done Obama. The Teabaggers should be proud that their heroic stand against wasteful spending is bearing fruit.
I wouldn't be surprised if Obama did pass this through, basso would be complaining how Dohbama is antagonizing both Russia and China in the same week.
So he's suggesting that the justification that Bush used - that this was about protection from Iran and not Russia - was a complete a total lie?
Great news. Based on sound economics, sound global politics, and sound science. We'll have enough differences with Russia. Deploying an ineffective system is not a good use of resources or political capital. I agree with those that say the tebaggers are having a positive effect for change. Less wasteful spending: check! (just call me) B-Bag
Good, sorta. I'm for the idea of missile defense. In fact I'm for any defense spending (within reason) that's really about defense, and not nation-building, empire-building, or charity work. So far, though, missile defense has been a wasteful joke. I'd be happier about it if instead of cutting missile defense budget completely, we cut 95% of it and give the remaining 5% to NASA for R&D.
