U.S. Missile Defense Against Iran Makes China/Russia Mad, Might Not Even Work

An anonymous reader writes "The United States, since the 1980s, has been trying to make missile defense work. Billions of dollars spent, tons of political capital spent, and not a lot to show. The U.S. does have two viable options: the SM-2 and SM-3, although neither are perfect. The U.S., with European allies, has been deploying missile defense in Europe to block a possible strike from Iranian nuclear tipped missiles (even though they have not made nukes or the missiles to carry them). One problem: such defenses could, in theory, also block Russian and Chinese missiles. Russia is now planning to make more missiles to counter such defenses and could pull out of the New Start Treaty. They may also stop helping U.S. forces to supply themselves in Afghanistan. Is this all worth it for something that might not even work?"

Comments

Re:Quite the opposite

[cpu6502]

>>> they are both backers of a nuclear Iran, which just sounds wonderful considering the frequency of their "death to America" and "death to Israel" proclamations.

When did these statements happen?
Citation please.
Oh and before you drag-out that tired "wipe Israel off the map" quote..... the phrase wipe off the map does not exist in the Iranian language. It was a very poor translation. What was actually stated by the Iranian president was this: "In a few years the government of Isreal will collapse and fade into history." Somewhat similar to what Reagan said about the communist government of Russia.

Re:Quite the opposite the opposite

[anagama]

Obama IS responsible for due process free execution of several American Citizens based on a secret legal memo (repeat of the GWB policies toward due process free detention).

Obama IS responsible for Yemen's continued imprisonment of a news reporter. His sin? Most likely:

As we now know, on December 17, 2009, President Obama ordered an air attack â" using Tomahawk cruise missiles and cluster bombs â" on the village of al Majala in Yemenâ(TM)s southern Abyan province; the strike ended the lives of 14 women and 21 children. At the time, the Yemeni government outright lied about the attack, falsely claiming that it was Yemenâ(TM)s air force which was responsible.

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/obamas_personal_role_in_a_journalists_imprisonment/singleton/

Seriously, you make light of Obama's failings with things that clearly aren't his fault, but that only serves to obfuscate the fact that he's taken everything that GWB did that was considered radical and dangerous, and made it the new normal. In a world of asshole murdering civil liberty destroying shits, Obama is president.

Here's a partial list, address some of that before you defend this guy:
http://nothingchanged.org/

Re:Quite the opposite the opposite

[demachina]

"Obama is responsible for the effects of Republican led deregulation of the financial industry"

You do know that some of the more catastrophic deregulation was a bipartisan effort and was led by Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Bob Rubin, especially repealing Glass Steagal and blocking derivatives regulation. You seem to be doing them same thing you are ridiculing, saying its all the other parties fault. Its entrenched power and greed that is at fault, and both parties have it in equal measure.