If the Japanese miss but take out MTV & Jersey Shore instead, that would still be ok I think my toaster has more computing power than that guidance system… I thought the North Koreans would launch a test missile on the ‘Day of the Sun’ – that would be Kim...
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel de facto announced on Friday that the US will scrap deployment of ground-based ballistic-missile interceptors in Poland and Romania. At a Pentagon press conference...
Associated PressAlthough he doesn't get the European Phased Adapted Approach (EPAA) quite right, Mark Adomanis at Forbes makes the right point about the BMD portion of the Romney foreign-policy...
Here is a word cloud of the speech's foreign-policy content:In this case, the cloud adds virtually nothing to our understanding, as the entire section is only 202 words long.Below is the section...
Moscow is once again expressing displeasure with US and NATO missile defense plans.Russia says it is prepared to use "destructive force pre-emptively" if the US goes ahead with controversial plans for a missile defence system based in Central Europe. The warning came after the Russian defence minister said talks on missile defence were nearing a dead end. Moscow fears that missile interceptors would be a threat to Russia's security.But the US and Nato say they are intended to protect against attacks from Iran or North Korea. "A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if...
NATO agrees to missile-defense mission. Somewhat paradoxically, this is true even if you're lukewarm on ballistic missile defenses (BMD) in general, or the Phased Adaptive Approach in particular. Why? The more NATO presents a united front, the more likely the Russians are to cooperate on BMD and BMD-related issues, which not only reduces an irritant in relations but mitigates against some of the potentially destabilizing implications of BMD deployment.Afterthought: might also help with New START ratification. Harder to argue that Obama is selling out BMD when he's accomplished something no...
Rob Farley argues, contra Ed Morrissey, against deploying a partially effective>ballistic missile defense (BMD) system:Ed, let me explain something to you, slowly and carefully. Missile defense, at least when conceived as a response to the threat of nuclear attack on the United States, needs to be "complete and perfect." Otherwise it's useless. There are virtually no foreign policy goals that a President will consider worthwhile if there's a 5% risk that the destruction of American cities will result. 80% doesn't cut it; 95% doesn't, and probably not even 99%. This is not a new objection to...
... Big news just came down the pike. Courtesy of a friend, I learn that Poland has agreed to host US ballistic-missile defenses. As geopolitical lines harden, the question becomes if Russia's actions will drive a wedge between NATO members that embrace a harder or a softer line towards Russia. Or will balance-of-threat dynamics lead to renewed NATO cohesion? I suspect the answer is far from preordained: a great deal depends on how US and European diplomacy plays out.Oh, and forget the G8/G7. This is the kind of thing the Russians might actually see as a significant negative consequence of...
Yesterday I was running a short simulation exercise on the Cuban Missile Crisis for students in my summer program, and lo and behold, what appeared in the paper, but:Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons could be deployed to Cuba in response to U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a Russian newspaper reported Monday, citing an unnamed senior Russian air force official.The report in Izvestia, which could not be confirmed, prompted memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war...
Even the most causal observers of US-Russian relations must have realized by now that the Kremlin is apoplectic over the prospect of US ballistic missile defenses (BMD) in Eastern Europe. How has the Kremlin responded to news of the US-Czech radar deal? They're not happy. Reuters: Russia warned after the signing on Tuesday it would react with unspecified military-technical means if the shield is deployed."The Czech side... voiced concerns over continued excessive rhetoric of the Russian Federation towards the Czech Republic and threats by some Russian official representatives in this sense,"...
Social-choice theory (or, in this context, public-choice theory) suggests that leaders sign international agreements as a way of "locking in" their preferred policies. Once a state signs such an agreement, the logic goes, future leaders will face greater costs if they want to change their predecessors' policies.It doesn't take a fancy degree to recognize that's what the Bush Administration has been up to in a number of arenas. Iraq is one of the most important, which is why they can't be pleased that Maliki has, apparently, demanded a timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq.Iraq will not...
After months of threats, Russia announced this morning that it is officially suspending its obligations under the Cold War-era Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. From a military point of view, this probably isn't all that significant: I haven't seen any one making a serious claim that the Russian Army has the genuine capacity to present a conventional threat NATO and the US.From a diplomatic point of view, though, it represents a new low in the relationship between the US and Russia. Although you wouldn't know it from the NY Times story, this decision seems to have been precipitated...