Bonehead appeasement by Obama on ballistic missile defense

[vladdrac]

The bad image our allies have of us started with our invasion of Iraq...The Coalition :lol: :lol: . History didn't happen in the last five days. Obama is an honest Baptist. You still sing the pirates songs

One observation to make here is that Obama and the Democrats droned on and on about how the US had a bad image around the world and that we were seen as arrogant bullies....

With moves like this, it is undeniable that Obama has changed the way the US is seen by the rest of the World. Before it was our ENEMIES that had a bad image of us, now Obama has manged to give the US a bad image among our staunchest allies.... they now see is as untrustworthy, unreliable, and opportunistic.... And whereas before, our enemies thought we were arrogant bullies, they now see us as week, obsequious push overs....

 

[SpacexULA]

Obama has manged to give the US a bad image among our staunchest allies.... they now see is as untrustworthy, unreliable, and opportunistic.... And whereas before, our enemies thought we were arrogant bullies, they now see us as week, obsequious push overs....

Sources for this statement? What government has officially protested this action? This system was not scheduled to be online until the 2020s. The missiles to be used as interceptors had been certified for nuclear warheads, and the majority of their range resided in Russian territory.

The US can not afford for more of it's budget to be dedicated to military equipment and salaries. Depending on how you do math between 25-47 percent of the federal budget is military related at this point.

Hawks love purchasing weapons for wars we are likely not to fight, while intentionally provoking the only countries that could actually hurt us. Then cutting taxes, increasing the military budget, and acting as if they are for a balanced budget.

Listen to Teddy Roosevelt George Washington, and Ron Paul. We need to start start walking lightly with our big stick.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Related article:

"Russia: Won’t deploy missiles near Poland"

Official also condemns Iran’s comments about Holocaust

MOSCOW - Russia said Saturday it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran's president for new comments denying the Holocaust.

Neither move, however, represented ceding any significant ground. A plan to place Iskander missiles close to the Polish border was merely a threat. And while the Kremlin has previously criticized Tehran for questioning the reality of the Holocaust, Russian leaders have refused to back Western push for tougher sanctions against Iran....

This is a typical Russian "tit-for-tat" play. Admittedly, the proposed missile defense system wasn't really THAT big of a deal in as much as it was some guarantee of adequate defense. It was merely adequate against some targets but it also carried with it the very important by-product of strengthening US relations in hosting countries and establishing a working defense-oriented presence in those countries. So, it would have served two purposes and had no small effect on Russia's ability to intimidate its former member-states.

Russia's consolation prize was offering up to respond "in kind" by giving up something that didn't mean much (their mobile missile capability is more than adequate atm) and making a forceful statement against Akmadinagottajob's recent outburst. In effect, doing the same thing Obama did by deciding against the defensive emplacements.

However, what saddens me is that the US and Russia could not agree on combined forces control of some of these bases. That was initially proposed but rejected, in part, by both parties. It would have gone a very long way towards establishing a working partner relationship that was military in focus with Russia. While I do not believe that Russian and US diplomacy/goals would be naturally compatible, I do believe we could use a bit more dialogue and cooperation between both parties to ensure the best chances for stability in the World.

 

[vladdrac]

Russia is in no condition to threaten Poland or anyone else with anything but nuclear weapons, which it probably did at the culmination of The Georgia Ukraina Game. But it was not Poland that She threatened. Russia is a huge rich country whose population has been demoralized by a century of really bad government and two catastrophic German Invasions to say nothing of Communism. Russia would like to be free to heal herself. Prior to that She was busy fending off invasions from the West. Its not Bonehead appeasement. Its recognizing that provoking desperate people with a huge nuclear arsenal is stupid.

 

[scottb50]

Despite all the hyperbolic partisanism and lynch mob mentality, while the hard Right represented by guys like Bill Cristol and Fred Barnes, again, this is one of the few things that the Obama Administration has actually gotten right.

The Bush plan was expensive, inflexible and provocative. There is NO ONE that can tell me that it was necessary to park ABM sites on the Russian frontier in the name of stopping Pakistan or Iran from dumping missiles on Europe.

It's just that kind of short and narrow-sighted foreign policy that will haunt the Bush Administration into history. I believe that in his heart of hearts, then President Bush felt that forward deployment was a good idea. I also believe that it was a message to Russia and that's where the program became a political failure.

The current Administration has NOT "scrapped" Missile Defense as the Rabid Right suggests. A more flexible, cost-effective program that is under deployment will be used that also carries the benefit of being less politically provocative.

I agree completely. That it actually hasn't got much beyond paperwork and spent more money on PR then substance it may have done some good just by causing the Russians to spend more then we did. Though I doubt they are that naive and probably spent just as little as we did on it.

I'm sure FAUX News has made more in advertising revenue then both the U.S. and Russia have spent.

For the intelligent, unbiased person, it is apparent that the unwieldy and expensive system designed to intercept ICBM's does not fit into a missile defense scheme that is intended to blunt a potential Iranian thread considering that their proliferation is in the arena of short and medium-range missiles to which ICBM interceptors are relatively useless.

Perhaps the most laughable argument for the abandonment of radar and ICBM Interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic is that this somehow compromises their defensive security. Tanks, planes and troops would overrun Poland and the Czech Republic, not ICBM's.

But Polly wants a cracker, and the parrots and drones will quote the Weekly Standard chapter and verse much like they would recite Bible Passages in Church on Sunday as Pastor leads them in Prayer.

We WILL deploy a missile defense system in phases over the next 10 years. So really, if the drooling Obama Bashers were SMART and not overcome by obsessive compulsive disorder, they would embrace a solution that both provides missile defense AND relieves political tensions in Eastern Europe.

 

[vladdrac]

Tanks planes and troops would overrun Poland and The Czech Republic....what troops? German? French? Italian?American?

 

[vladdrac]

Nuclear scramjet cruise missiles..braught to velocity by solid fuel boosters..about a thousand. Which is why its not so crazy to wish God would send an asteroid. At least there would be no radioactive fallout accept from our own exploded nuclear facilities. What was it Popeye used to say: I've stood all I can stand and I can't stands no more"?

 

[jimglenn]

Obama needs a time machine, go back and stop the origins of the BMD program!

Instead start a hybrid car project that would blow away Toyota. With the money we spent on intercepters that
only work sometime, we all could be driving hybrids NOW, paid for with taxes. Gawd we blew it.

We have plenty of ICBMs, any country that gets frisky with some dumb missile would be smoked as an example.

Keep pushing Kim, you'll get yours. Iran is not so much a worry to me. I think Israel is building that up to try to

suck us into fighting them. 911 sure did the trick with Iraq.