MDAA Alert – The Romanian Proposal

Eastern Europe

Dear Members and Friends,

The President of Romania, Mr. Traian Basescu, announced his willingness to negotiate terms with the United States to host a U.S. Land-based Aegis Ashore Missile Defense system last week. Basescu stated that the proposed system could be in place by 2015. The formal invitation for cooperation came directly from President Barack Obama and was initiated by Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Romania in October 2009. The potential addition of another international partner in missile defense is a welcome movement towards a global missile defense community. There are now 40 countries participating, including Romania, with the United States on missile defense.

This Romanian proposal does have serious challenges, both politically and technically, to be a sound investment of United States tax dollars and in its alignment with the President’s Missile Defense plan.

Russian Military Calls US Missile Defense a Threat

Gen. Nikolai Makarov

In Russia’s strongest statement yet on the deployment of U.S missile defense systems in Romania, their top military official, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, has said that plans are at threat to Russian national security. They want to include the extended missile shield in nuclear disarmament talks between the US and Russia. This could complicate negotiations that had look to be reaching a close in recent weeks.

MOSCOW — U.S. missile defense plans are a threat to Russian national security and have slowed down progress on a new arms control treaty with Washington, Russia’s top military officer said Tuesday.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov said that a revised U.S. plan to place missiles in Central Europe undermines Russia’s national defense, rejecting Obama administration promises that the plan is not directed at his country.

“We view it very negatively, because it could weaken our missile forces,” Makarov, who is the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in televised remarks.

U.S. Wants Sanctions In Weeks as Iran Ups Enrichment

Natanz - Iran's Underground Uranium Development Site

Iran continues to enrich uranium in blatant defiance of the U.N. Security Council. The Iranian government has said that they will be stepping up their uranium enrichment levels from 3.5%  to 20%. This is worrisome because although it takes 90% purity to make a nuclear bomb, the low-level enrichment of nuclear materials is the most time-consuming and difficult step in the process. 20% enrichment would mean that the Iranians are that much closer to possessing weapons grade nuclear material.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the United States wanted a U.N. Security Council resolution “within weeks” to tackle Iran’s nuclear program as Iran said it had begun making higher-grade nuclear fuel.

The Islamic Republic, which denies its program has military aims, announced on Sunday it would produce uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent for a Tehran research reactor making medical isotopes for cancer patients.

This followed a failure to agree terms for a proposed nuclear swap with major powers, under which Iran would send most of its low-enriched uranium abroad in return for such fuel.