It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
“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.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration appears likely to adopt a compromise European missile defense plan that shelves many of the components that have been a major irritant in relations with Russia, with an announcement expected 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.
President Barack Obama faces the dilemma of either setting back the gradual progress toward repairing relations with Russia or disappointing two key NATO allies that agreed to host components of the planned system.
Administration officials were expected to brief lawmakers and government officials in Poland and the Czech Republic on results of the review on Thursday, according to an administration official and a congressional aide. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates scheduled a news conference Thursday 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. Two military officials said the news conference would concern the missile defense plans.
Along with threatening to aim missiles at Europe, the Russian side came up with another proposal to the US. At the G-8 Summit in Germany in June 2007 President Putin has offered Russian-rented radar in Azerbaijan to be jointly used by Russia and the US. The radar station was a part of an early-warning system, designed to detect possible missile attack on the Soviet Union. The government of Azerbaijan has been leasing the radar to Russia after the dissolution of Soviet Union and in 2002 two governments have agreed on another 10-year period lease. Vladimir Putin has offered Gabala Radar Station to be jointly used by the US and Russia. At the same time, Russian government has also tried to assure the Iranian side that joint use would be of no harm to Iran. Later, the Iranian ambassador to Baku expressed his confidence that Russia and Azerbaijan would never use Gabala against his state. Reportedly, official Iran has had little doubt that the Americans would accept the Russian initiative.
Originally posted by dooper
And another Democrat President craps on more of our friends.
Every single time we get a panty-waist liberal President, not only do they bend us over for a good rooting, but they make the US out to be one fickle "ally."
Then we have to have a Conservative come in and play "catch up."
Originally posted by mpriebe81
This is good news in my opinion! One of the very few things that I feel Obama has done right thus far in office, as all this missile shield was going to accomplish was putting a big "F U!" in Russia's face and ratchet up tensions between the two nations. Plus, what a colossal waste of money.....wait a second, Obama actually SAVED us some money!??!
Originally posted by drwizardphd
Face it, if he had approved putting up the missile shield, you guys would just be bitching about him spending money.
ARLINGTON, Va., April 6, 2009 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is recommending that a second Airborne Laser (ABL) prototype aircraft be scrapped and the program be shifted to a research and development effort as part of a plan to reduce the Missile Defense Agency budget by $1.4 billion. Gates made the announcement Monday as he outlined his recommendations to the president regarding the 2010 defense budget.
Originally posted by dooper
And another Democrat President craps on more of our friends.
Originally posted by Aggie Man
I can't help but wonder if this is a concession the US is making to Russia to appease them so we can take a shot at Iran.