Putin Threatens US Missile Bases In Europe

Melugo writes to let us know that Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned that US plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would force Moscow to target its weapons against Europe. This reader notes: "It feels like the Cold War all over again." "'If the American nuclear potential grows in European territory, we have to give ourselves new targets in Europe,' Putin said... 'It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles.'"

Comments

Re:This is stupid

[drgonzo59]

You under-estimate the Russian missiles. US says that the defense systems are there for the missiles flying from North Korea. Russian missiles a lot more advanced than North Korean ones. Take this little puppy for example. She is beautiful, isn't she!.
  An attack with those babies will not be stopped by the current generation of missile defense systems. It is _not_ a completely ballistic rocket. In other words predicting, calculating it's trajectory and using all the billions of dollars of infrastructure designed for ballistic missiles is not as useful anymore.

The competition between missile defense and missiles will mostly end up with a win for the missile. This reminds me of the competition between artillery and armor. There are certain artillery shells that no current armor can protect against it.

2nd option

[cgenman]

Perhaps Putin is afraid of what the US might do if Mutually Assured Destruction was no longer mutually assured? After all, while a good shield can help save lives, it can also cost a lot more if the bearer of the shield no longer has to worry about the consequences of drawing his sword.

putin isn't that bad

[backtothelight23]

The reasons why putin is so popular at home are simple: When he took office russia was bankrupt, people had lost all their savings, wages and rents were not paid. Since then wages have quadrupled, russia is not just defacto debt free(~debt is at 8 % of gdp), but has currency reserves of over 400 billion dollars plus a stabilization fund of 117 billion dollars. Capital influx reached allready 40 billion dollars jan-may.The economy grew by 7.9 % in the frist quarter. And this growth is now driven by demand, and not longer by the gas and oil sector. Oil and gas revenues now stay in the country, without putin russia would not profit from the high oil prices, all money would end up in western bank accounts like under jelzin. Even birth rates are rising. The so called "opposition" figures like berezovsky and kasparov have no backing in the russian population, they are seen as thieves and hated. Putin brought stability, and the state has regained control over the country, which was lost in 1999. If the politics of the nineties were continued, russia could not exist anymore. In fact, putin saved russia. The west allready believed it was dead, and expanded nato to it's borders and ignored russia's concerns. This time is now over, and the west should accept russia as an equal partner, because without russia most problems we face today can't be solved, and the russian economy is a huge market for western goods. Russia can help us in many spheres, but has also the capability to create giant troubles for the west. As an european i don't want to see a europe full of weapons. I don't believe we have the right to interfere with russia's internal affairs - everytime the west tries to enforce so called "democracy" another desaster happens, just look at afghanistan, iraq and the political crises in the ukraine. Putin is no angel, and he makes difficult decisions which might look bad to the west, but are right from a russian perspective. Russia suffered more than most countries(for example it lost more people than any other country in WWII), and it's no germany, it's much bigger, it has over 100 nationalities, and has/had problems you can not solve with a western style government, just look how difficult it is for an european government to make just the simplest reforms. It's time for the west to make concessions, to get russia back in our boat, we need it to fight terrorism, as a market, for resources, and to solve all other outstanding issues. Russia is pragmatic, you can have everything from them if you respect them, and in contrast to the us which wants to control the whole world, russia only wants a backyard without foreign troops to feel save. Russia is back.

Re:I have a better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly, I don't get it. Both why Putin would make an ass out of himself like this, and why we need missile defense systems in Europe. But then again, I'm not a fan of the military of any country. I fail to see its utility, when the money involved could be put to better uses.

Still, sounds like more politicians trying to flex their muscles.

Ok, time for my weekly conspiracy theory:
Why did the Cuba crisis start? According to a recent Documentary on the Discovery Channel (Not the best of sources I know but this time it told the story from the Russian POV as well) it went something like this:

1. A fellow named Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev who also happens to be the premier of the Soviet Union takes a vacation on the Black Sea.
2. He gets a visit from a general who points out to him US missile bases on the Turkish side a strategic stone's throw from where they are standing.
3. Khrushchev decides that if the USA can plant missiles in the USSR's back yard surely the USSR can plant missiles in the USA's back yard?
4. Vastly underestimating depth of US anti communist hysteria Krushev orders missies to be deployed to Cuba.
5. The US finds out.
6. Outrage sweeps in Washington, nobody seems to register the degree to which similar US actions might have contributed to this.
7. Surprise at the US reaction sweeps Moscow, nobody had seriously thought about what reaction nuclear missiles in Cuba might cause in Washington. After all the USA had planted nuclear missiles in Turkey within sight of the Soviet premier's summer house hadn't it?
8. The US president John F Kennedy is overwhelmed both by Soviet actions and pressure by hawks in the US to respond with maximum force. To his credit he orders reconnaissance flights to be made by US forces in order to establish the facts on the ground before pressing any red buttons. At first these flights are relatively non threatening U-2 missions but eventually high speed low level over-flights are ordered at altitudes of some 300m in order to obtain detailed imagery. These over-flights along with a few other incidents caused by overzealous people on both sides including one involving aggressive US Navy behavior towards a missile armed Soviet sub in the region convinced many Soviet and Cuban participators in the crisis that the US was trying really, really hard to deliberately provoke a war. In reality of course it seems that people in the US were simply trying really, really hard to figure out what was going on in Cuba and not taking into consideration what over-flights by reconnaissance aircraft, aircraft who incidentally were almost indistinguishable from the fighter and bomber variants of the same aircraft type, made at high subsonic and even super sonic speeds would look like to the Cuban/Soviet military.
9. Nuclear war (almost) ensues but is averted by a frighteningly small number of cool heads on both sides of the curtain, sometimes by communicating through unofficial channels.

I don't think Putin & Co and Bush and his people. are trying to provoke a war any more than JFK and Khrushchev were. They simply are so entrenched in their respective preconceptions that GWB for example can't accurately assess what effect it will have to plant a missile defense system in Russia's back yard and that Russia has no effective answer to. I don't doubt that the Americans honestly intend this system mainly to defend against missile attacks from rogue states such as N-Korea and Iran, they would be insane if they really intended it to upset the MAD balance with Russia. But Putin & Co, who also seem to be unable to accurately assess US intentions for various reasons, see this as the first step in an attempt to create a situation where the US can nuke them but they can't respond so they have reacted in their own way which is to re-heat the cold war with new missiles. If the US and Russia continue to provoke each other the only thing it will achieve is to m

Re:I have a better idea

[phayes]

A military is needed to protect the civilian populations from situations like that occurring presently in northern Lebanon. The civilian population in the camp is suffering because no military was present to prevent an armed organization installing itself in it's midst. In an ideal world, no such forces would be present but as we do not live in an ideal world, we will always need armed forces to protect the sheep from the wolves.

Re:Official "In Soviet Russia..." thread

[Hal_Porter]

After WWII Russia clearly was expansionist - Stalin used the oppportunity to seize lots of countries. But that was 60 years ago under a pyschopath. Then again, the initial assumption of the Bolsheviks was that they WOULD need to force worldwide revolution. But the hard core of Bolsheviks rapidly dissappeared too.

So wait is Stalin bad (expansionist, psychopathic dictator) or good (the hard code of Bolsheviks rapidly disappeared) ?

Re:This is just Putin playing politics

[Lockejaw]

Nothing whatsoever to do with trajectory math.

If Russia launched missiles at the U.S., they would not fly over Europe. If Iran launched missiles at the U.S., they would fly over Eastern Europe. Go check an azimuthal map and see for yourself.