The US anti-ballistic shield is shaky

The International Herald Tribune today reported that the U.S. is preparing to find a different location for its proposed antiballistic missile shield if the Polish government won’t agree the terms.

Senior Poland government officials said they were extremely concerned that they were failing to persuade the Bush administration to finance the modernisation of the Polish armed forces in exchange for deploying part of the proposed shield in Poland.

Radek Sikorski (former employee of the Neocon American Enterprise Institute ) said that the proof of the close relationship between Poland and the United States hinged on US finance for updating Poland’s armed forces and air defences.

Poland has sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Only €20 million is on offer from the US.

The US withdrew from a few years ago from a treaty barring development of antiballistic missile shields. The shields are viewed as an aggressive measure, as they open up the prospect of attempted “first nuclear strike” against another nuclear power, with protection from retaliation.

Whilst the US cites Iran as the reason for the shield, Russia is convinced that it is part of a push to encircle Russia.

The Poles are very courageous to offer their services to the US: the presence of the shield would guarantee them target status, plus the reliability of the antimissile missiles is questionable.

For anyone worrying that World War III is on the way, the last two links to Irishman in Poland blogspot reveal that we have the situation under control.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6720153.stm#map

http://www.defense-update.com/newscast/0307/analysis/analysis-150307.htm

http://peacenikhurler.blogspot.com/2008/02/us-missile-shield-research-underway-in.html

http://peacenikhurler.blogspot.com/2008/02/poland-and-us-agree-on-missile-defence.html

It seems likely that the US has an alternative location lined up in the event that the Polish talks break down.

Any suggestions where it might be?

Quote :

The Poles are very courageous to offer their services to the US: the presence of the shield would guarantee them target status, plus the reliability of the antimissile missiles is questionable.

As far as I recall, the only successful tests so far have used a target missile that actually has a homing beacon on it.

its an attack shield

lostexpectation wrote:

its an attack shield

US withdraws from ABM Treaty

The US withdrawal from the antiballistic missile treaty after 30 years in 2001 was intended to make it safe to attack.