Putin calls for follow-up to missile U-turn

One small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind. Well, maybe not.

Putin calls for follow-up to missile U-turn

By Charles Clover in Moscow, Daniel Dombey in Washington and James Blitz in London

Published: September 18 2009 11:12 | Last updated: September 18 2009 19:33

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, on Friday welcomed the Obama administration’s decision to scrap plans for a missile defence shield in Europe as a positive step – but he said that other US concessions should follow.

In his first public comments since the White House announced its decision on Thursday, Mr Putin said that he wanted the US to support efforts by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to join the World Trade Organisation.

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Obama rejects Russia missile link

President Obama has faced criticism about his decision

The US president says his decision to shelve a missile defence plan was not dictated by Russian opposition.

"The Russians don't make determinations about what our defence posture is," Barack Obama told CBS television.

"If the by-product of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid... then that's a bonus," Mr Obama said.

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Here's how to see if this makes sense. Set up some missile launchers a ship floating in the Pacific Ocean in the lower southern hemisphere away from any land mass, but within an area that represents the geography of Iran. Then place an anti-missile destroyer the approximate the distance from Iran that it would be in the Mediterranean Sea.

The captain of the missile launcher ship would have a three-month window in which several missiles could be launched in any direction representing Israel to Eastern Europe. The anti-missile destroyer could not be on heightened alert and would receive the same monitoring information for the area representing Iran's geography that it would get from actual monitoring.

When the captain of the missile launching ship decided it was time to launch, he would give the order and the targeted area. The anti-missile destroyer would then have to demonstrate the ability of the system to eliminate the multiple-targeted missiles.

The reality is that Iran's only first-strike target is Israel. Iran has nothing to gain from a first-strike against any European country... at least until it had a reliable long-range missile system and nuclear weapons which then would give it enormous extortion leverage against countries that have generally given up the will to fight for much of anything... having long since given up the role of their protection to the U.S. in exchange for continuing insults toward the U.S. for its militaristic approach to the world.

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