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KevO
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Joined: May 24, 2005
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 Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:32 pm Post subject: Russia threatens military action over US shield |
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| Quote: | Russia's foreign ministry has said it will be forced to react with military means if a US-Czech agreement over a missile defence shield is ratified.
The statement comes hours after the US signed an initial deal to base part of Washington's controversial missile defence system in the Czech Republic.
It said Russia would respond "not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods" if the system was deployed.
Moscow says siting the system near its borders could weaken its own defence.
It has previously threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
Tracking system
The deal signed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Prague on Tuesday allows a tracking radar base to be set up on Czech territory.
The plans remain unpopular in the Czech Republic and the US has also failed to reach agreement with Poland on placing other parts of the system there.
The missile defence system would include the tracking radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. The US wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012. |
BBC news
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KevO
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bl00k
Heavy Crude
Joined: Sep 17, 2005
Posts: 117
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: Russia threatens military action over US shield |
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"Aim their missiles at Czech Republic"???
Are they physically gonna aim the missiles eastward? They gonna put the crosshairs of the missiles pointed east? Come on, why do these people make fools of themselves all the time... because they are fools perhaps.
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mos6507
Fission
Joined: Aug 03, 2007
Posts: 2444
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: Russia threatens military action over US shield |
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We should just call their bluff. I don't think it's worth it for them to go to war over something this stupid.
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dorlomin
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Aug 05, 2007
Posts: 840
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:49 pm Post subject: Re: Russia threatens military action over US shield |
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| mos6507 wrote: | | We should just call their bluff. I don't think it's worth it for them to go to war over something this stupid. |
The worry is that this kind of thinking is what causes wars. States take actions that they think the other side will not go to war over, they try to grab bits of influence here or better trading rights there and someone feels too hemmed in and over reacts: before you know it its back the August 1914.
A classic example of this would be Saddam who figured no one really cared about Kuwait enough to take the risk.
This on its own will definently not cause a war, but it rachets tension and undermines the Russian strategic safety margins. There counters may trigger a series of small escalations, things like Russia redeploying IRBMs specificaly to target these sites and the US retaliating in some other fashion. It also very seriously hurts confidence in western Europe who will feel that the US is shaping up to confront Russia with minimal risks to itself.
I really don't think these interceptor sites are worth the costs in terms of diplomacy that they are causing. |
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