Russian propaganda campaign starts to pay off as US relents on missile defense

Russian leader Vladimir Putin's pressure campaign against a US-built missile defense system for Europe is bearing fruit.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates' announcement today that the US might delay activation of the system showed the Kremlin that its old-style intransigence still works in pressuring the West. Gates' statement, according to the New York Times, was "clearly seeking to mollify Moscow."

This is a terrible move. The Bush Administration seems to have learned nothing from dealing with the Russians. Precedent shows that when Moscow succeeds in delaying a US decision, it will follow with a campaign to push harder to isolate the US from its European allies and ultimately cause Washington to cancel its program.

President Bush has set himself up to become another Jimmy Carter, who got the US into a similar fix in the late 1970s by delaying his decision to deploy the enhanced radiation warhead (ERW, often inaccurately called the "neutron bomb") to deter against a Soviet armored invasion of Western Europe. Carter's delays allowed the Soviets to mount a political warfare counteroffensive within NATO that pressured the president to cave.

The American political position in Eastern Europe is already weakened with the expected change in the government of Poland, which is less pro-American and less anti-Russian than the incumbent. This will give the Kremlin another wedge against the United States.

The US isn't helping things with its lame defense of the anti-missile system. While warning about the danger that a nuclear missile-armed Iran presents, the White House now says that the missile defense system, to be based on Poland and the Czech Republic, can be delayed until Iran does something that looks threatening.

At the same time, everyone knows the Bush Administration is being either disengenuous or naive by continuing to insist that the Russians pose no missile threat to Europe. Indeed, Bush has maneuvered himself into another corner; in order to "prove" that we don't think Russia threatens Europe, the administration now wants to invite the Kremlin to be part of our missile defense system.

Meanwhile, Moscow's threat to reprogram its ICBM force to target European cities still stands, and we pretend not to notice. Ditto for Russia's ongoing strategic nuclear missile modernization program that is proceeding apace, as we look the other way. 

Comments

[jon]

The website www.thethirdsite.com is intently focused on the American proposed missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. Visit www.thethirdsite.com!

[charles]

Does anyone have any reliable sites related to open-source info on the Russians' new/upgraded ballistic missile programs?