Of the many moves by NATO to increase their military presence in Eastern Europe, none has been so onerous to Russia as the European missile defense system. Late this week, NATO is making some significant moves in that regard.
Thursday, the system officially went online with the opening of a base in Romania. One day later, ground will be broken on a major additional base in Poland, which will also hold significant missile defense assets.
Though throughout its construction the defense system was repeatedly claimed to have nothing to do with Russia, despite being built overwhelmingly on the Russian frontier, US officials are now openly talking up the “robust display of military power” the system represents as explicitly targeted at Russia.
The missile defense system threatens to at least somewhat reduce the effectiveness of Russia’s nuclear deterrent, though likely only a small amount. Russia sees this as further weakening their general position in the region, as previous nuclear deals designed to assure relative parity were made before NATO absorbed much of Russia’s former alliance, the Warsaw Pact.
Jason, the US targets Russia. Therefore, the US should pay the bills for Nato. But the most positive outcome I can think of if Trump becomes the pres, is that he will start dicking with some of the other countries and they will tell the US to take a fu–ing hike. Simple really, except that the vanity of Americans won’t allow them to see the truth.
All those other members of Nato need the US right? To protect them from the common enemy of the free world! The godless state! The great Satan! The threat to world Jewry! The clear and present threat to freedom! The monster under your beds!!
Uh’murican hypocrisy & deceit… their number one product…
This won’t end well for Poland.
Maginot Line 2
In a conventional war, just how long will these bases last. If the Russians have any sense, they will be at the top of the target list and a useless waste of money
Oh, the MICC doesn’t believe it a waste of money – they’re the only ones who will benefit from this.
Looks like Poland will be another “battleground State” with the same results as last time.
Probably not because Russia learned a lesson last time. They lost more than any other country in the world by far. Surely that would provide Putin with the impetus to move the battleground elsewhere. Far, far from Russia where the fallout is least likely to drift back to his homeland.
I’m beginning to think that the US is happy with taking chances in Europe and that’s go a lot to do with it’s propping up of the Nato force to keep Europe in the game of aggression throughout the world. The odds the US is most likely betting on is that when push comes to shove and the nukes start flying, the easiest targets will be Europe. Russia and China would be sure to get their licks in there first because it’s a sure thing.
And so then North America would be the second wave and that could possibly be defended against. The only flaw in this thinking is that there’s a good chance that Putin (say Russia) will up his chances of getting his licks in on North America by concentrating on the source of the real threat to world peace. I think that’s highly likely, even though nuclear war is very unlikely to begin with. The MAD deterrent continues to save us from the unthinkable and will likely continue to do so.
And Nato will continue to survive and do fine, even under Trump as president. Or more correctly, especially under Trump as pres. That is, as soon as he’s briefed and told what Nato is and how it’s essential to US led wars and the US’s credibility and legitimacy on starting wars.
Having Nato in Poland is like painting a bullseye in the middle of the country. it says hit me, hit me. Good Luck Poland
Obama’s legacy will be a mushroom cloud over America if he keeps this up. The man is fundamentally unbalanced and needs to be removed per the 25th amendment before he gets us all killed…