Romania Says It Is Joining Missile Shield

Romania has decided to join the Missile Defense band wagon in Eastern Europe. There announcement of intent to join the US missile defense shield came as a surprise to many. It looks the US is once again expanding its influence…

MUNICH — Romania’s top defense body approved a United States proposal to base missile interceptors there, the country’s president said Thursday.

The announcement from the president, Traian Basescu, came as a bit of a surprise. The United States had negotiated to place the system in the Czech Republic and Poland, but plans for Romania’s participation had not previously been disclosed. Mr. Basescu said in a statement that Romania, the Black Sea country and former Warsaw Pact member that is now a part of NATO, was prepared to begin negotiations with the United States to accept the deployment of ground-based interceptors as part of an anti-ballistic missile defense system. He said the system could be working in Romania by 2015.

“The decision taken today is extremely important in consolidating the partnership with the United States,” Mr. Basescu said, adding that the most important result would be that the system will improve Romanian security. “This is the most important gain. Romania was not protected against possible ballistic missile strikes,” Mr. Basescu said.

Poll: Defense Budget Increase a Good Idea, Yes or No?

This will be the first in a weekly series of poll questions on the MDAA blog. We will be polling to get a sense of the opinion on weekly topics. Please feel free to comment or add an answer, just keep it polite.

The FY2011 President’s Budget request was released on Monday. Obama’s request for Defense spending was approx 3% higher than last year. Included was a 6% increase in Missile Defense spending. What do you think about the budget increase?

Obama Keeps North Korea Off U.S. List of Terrorism Sponsors

President Barack Obama said he’ll keep North Korea off the U.S. government’s list of states that sponsor terrorism.

North Korea “does not meet the statutory criteria” for inclusion on the list, that automatically imposes sanctions, Obama wrote in a letter to congressional leaders yesterday.

Former President George W. Bush removed North Korea in 2008 after the communist state agreed to inspections of sites suspected of being part of the regime’s nuclear program. It had been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1988.