Kinder, Gentler ‘Cold War’ As Russia & US Lock Horns Over Missile Defense

It’s not a return to the Cold War, but its psychologically remnants remain as Moscow tries forcing Washington to a binding legal agreement that its NATO missile shield will never ever be aimed across the Ural Mountains which separates Russia from Western Europe.

OPINION: Breaking the Cold War Limbo

NATO-Russia cooperation is stuck halfway between Cold War antagonism and what NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls “a true strategic partnership.” But there remains a window of opportunity to ensure pan-European security. All parties should bear in mind that trust, inclusion, equality and compromise between Russia, the United States and Europe are key prerequisites for reaching an accord on joint missile defense.

The missiles mind game

Drawing by Niyaz Karim

The debate on a joint European missile defense system that gained momentum after the Russia-NATO Lisbon Summit in November 2010 has reached its logical conclusion. On the eve of the meeting of Russian and NATO defense ministers, the alliance’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, officially declined Russia’s idea of “sectoral” missile defense and Russia’s demand for legal guarantees that the system would not target Russia. The same was said with total finality at the meeting. The discussion has thus been thrown back to the chronic phase in which it has languished for 10 years (the topic was broached by then-defense minister Sergei Ivanov in the early 2000s).

MDAA Alert: Hunting Rabbits

MDAA Alert:

Rabbit Hunting

June 30, 2011

Dear Members and Friends,

“The Russian bear sits in its lair, and the NATO huntsman comes over to his house and asks him to come hunt the rabbit. …. Why do your rifles have the caliber to hunt the bear, not the rabbit?”

–Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin

Russia Presses U.S. for Guarantee on Missile Shield

Moscow has pressed for binding guarantees that a European missile shield would not weaken its nuclear arsenal, saying on Friday that the system now planned by the United States could threaten Russia’s security after 2015.

Days before he meets with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated his warning of a return to the Cold War if the United States and NATO do not give Russia enough input in the creation of a missile defense system.

Russia to Enhance Strike Potential if Missile Cooperation with NATO Fails

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev

Russia will boost its strike nuclear capabilities if NATO refuses to cooperate with Moscow in the European missile defense project, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

The United States refused to comply with a Russian request that it provide legally binding guarantees that its European missile defense system will not be directed at Russia.

Japan shifts defense strategy toward N. Korea, China

Japan is looking to realign its defense forces from a Cold War mindset to a more modern one. This entails using a strategy they refer to as “dynamic force” and positioning their defenses against North Korea and China. Missile defense will play a key role in this new strategy as both nations have multiple systems that can target the island nation.

Top Officials Brief Senate on U.S.-Russian Nuclear Pact

Secretary of Defense Gates and other officials were at the Senate yesterday to discuss the START treaty ratification. The goal of the engagement, was to provide senators with an overview of the treaty and to answer any questions they may have had about it.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other top Obama administration officials addressed the Senate yesterday on a pending nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, the Defense Department said (see GSN, May 6)

NATO Says Missile Defense Cost Small Price to Pay

NATO Secretary General Rasmussen

Wednesday, the head of NATO announced the cost of linking up the alliance’s missile defense systems at less than $260 million, and said it was a small price to pay to protect citizens. “How could we not agree to build defense for all our citizens against missile attacks? Why would we protect our soldiers — and we should — but not everybody else?”

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been urging the 28 NATO states to agree to the system at a summit in Lisbon in November, citing an increased threat from Iran, but alliance members have questioned the cost. The project envisages creating an alliance command and control system to link existing national missile defenses and extend NATO-wide protection beyond that which the alliance already provides to its armed forces.

With Arms Pact, Disarmament Challenge Remains

President Obama Arriving in Prague

The article shows the varying views on nuclear weapons. One side is that the world should be without nuclear weapons totally, while the other side is to continue to have them for the security of the United States and world.  Both arguments create a debate that continues even after the signing of the new START treaty today.

President Obama came to this medieval city last spring to lay out an audacious vision of “a world without nuclear weapons.” A year later, he arrives back here on Thursday to sign a treaty with Russia that envisions a world with thousands of nuclear weapons.

Under the so-called New Start treaty, the two powers will pare their arsenals but still deploy 1,550 warheads each, on top of thousands of others not covered by the pact. All of which raises this question: Nearly two decades after the end of the cold war, with terrorists, rather than Soviet despots, the main threat, why does the world still need so many weapons?