Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Saturday, August 23, 2008 1:22:36 AM
From "Putin's Next Domino" by Kathy Shaidle writing at Front Page Magazine:
As soon as the U.S. and Poland signed their long awaited missile defense pact on August 20 (a deal recently reported in FrontPage), the Kremlin issued a sinister threat reminiscent of its old Cold War rhetoric.
The deal places 10 missile defense interceptors on Polish territory, 115 miles from the Russian border. The missiles are designed to deter and, if necessary, defeat an Iranian attack, not to attack the former Soviet Union. But the Russians don't believe that.
Hours after the signing, Russia's Foreign Ministry described the new base as "one of the instruments in an extremely dangerous bundle of American military projects involving the one-sided development of a global missile shield system." The Foreign Ministry insisted that the interceptors don't have "any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," and issued a veiled threat: "In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic" channels.
A few days earlier, Deputy Chief of Staff General Anatoly Nogovitsyn had warned, "Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to [nuclear] attack, one hundred percent."
Earlier, the chief of Russia's strategic missile command suggested aiming nuclear missiles at Poland, while Vladimir Putin himself has warned Poland's neighbor that "Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory" if Ukraine joined NATO.
In Poland to sign the aggreement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed any suggestion that the new system represents a threat to Russia, and denounced General Nogovitsyn's threat.
Comments like this "border on the bizarre, frankly," said Rice, adding, "The Russians are losing their credibility." "Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one," Rice futher explained. "It is in our defense that we do this."
"It's also the case that when you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice continued. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."
Perhaps, but Russia seems eager to turn back the clock, to a time when it was the United States' most feared enemy, and not merely a nation among others.
Some strong language, thankfully, from Secretary of State Condi Rice towards our Russian enemies. Her statement is an interesting reminder. Unlike with Georgia, we do indeed have a treaty with Poland to defend their country as if it were our own. A treaty I could not be in more support of.
However, Russia possesses ten times the number of tactical nuclear missiles held by the United States. 5,000 of them to be exact. For anyone just now discovering this fact, the situation should have just gotten a great deal more serious. Especially considering Russia's alignment with Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and now Cuba.
The good news is Vlad the Impaler Putin must realize, evil though he is, that even with all those nuclear missiles there is no way Russia could defeat the United States in a war. Russia cannot fire all 5,000 nuclear missiles at the same time. The vast majority, if not all of them, would be destroyed well before hitting their targets if launched. Operational nukes or not, Russia would be obliterated in a nuclear confrontation with America. Our defense capabilities far outweigh anything Russia is capable of. While their nuclear missiles are destroyed before detonation, U.S. missiles would be striking their targets and throwing Russia back to the Dark Ages in short order.
So for all of Moscow's propaganda, and as truly serious as their nuclear arsenal is, we are hardly faced with a direct threat from a Russian nuclear attack. Poland and Ukraine on the other hand, have every right to be worried and do whatever they can to defend themselves from any attacks; whether they be from Russia or Iran as Secretary Rice suggests.
I believe her by the way. Secretary Rice is correct; Poland entering our missile defense net is directly aimed at Iran, not Russia. Right now the Kremlin will use any excuse it has to throw focus and blame away from them and onto other countries as agitators. After their invasion of Georgia this is to be expected.
A sidenote to this article: Russia would not have such a greater number of tactical nuclear missiles than we do if not for Democrats destroying America's military budget and wadging their own personal war against our nuclear weapons capability.