INTELLIGENCE: U.S., NATO Move Missile Shield Toward Russia's Southern Borders

Saturday, September 24, 2011

U.S., NATO Move Missile Shield Toward Russia's Southern Borders

U.S., NATO Move Missile Shield Toward Russia's Southern Borders

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/24/56548936.html

Voice of Russia
September 24, 2011

Short-sighted policy
Valentin Zorin

-The recent steps towards the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe and moving it closer to Russian borders meets the needs of the US military-industrial complex, which plans to make a gold mine out of this program, so devastating for the country's economy.

Hopes for reasonable and realistic policies from the Washington big-league are dwindling, despite the "reset" in US-Russian relations and a number of constructive steps in this direction. A few days ago, the United States and Romania signed an agreement to deploy a US missile base on the territory of Romania. Simultaneously, Washington and Ankara signed a memorandum on the deployment of an American radar station in Malatya in the southeast of Turkey. The United States has thereby put finishing touches to the legal procedures behind a considerable expansion of American military presence at the southern approaches to the Russian borders.

Assurances on the part of Washington politicians that a missile defense shield, created despite Russia's objections, poses no threat to Russia don't impress anyone in Moscow. Russia is not so naïve as to doubt the anti-Russian nature of a string of American military bases in close proximity to Russian borders. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had good reason to express disappointment about this so-called "reset" recently by saying that after Russia had made its position on missile defense crystal clear several times and the two countries agreed that there would be no anti-missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, Washington announces the deployment of such missiles in other countries of Europe.

The "reset" declared by the Democratic administration as it took office three years ago was prompted by the demands of the day, rather than Washington's well-wishing intentions towards Russia.

President Obama acted on the assumption that despite years-long efforts, the American missile defense system proved inefficient. The US leader was fully aware of a government report which concluded that missile defense experts had failed to achieve the results they had been paid for and that the missile defense system they had been trying to create was a flop.

The sum paid exceeded 1.5 trillion dollars, which set off government auditors. Judging by the outcome, this money landed in the bank accounts of military and industrial corporations, rather than in outer space. At first, Obama admitted that. Breaking the unwritten rules of the Washington elite, he said openly that the Pentagon's current demands reflected the needs of the military-industrial complex and its lobbyists in the corridors of power, rather than the genuine needs of the country and its people.

He was never forgiven this lapse. Today, he keeps silent on this issue, pressured by the lobbyists. The Republican majority in Congress are forcing him into discarding what he used to proclaim. He had to make hefty concessions to the right-wing Republicans to avoid a financial default at the beginning of August. And his agenda in the run-up to presidential elections in November next year looks defensive.

The recent steps towards the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe and moving it closer to Russian borders meets the needs of the US military-industrial complex, which plans to make a gold mine out of this program, so devastating for the country's economy.

But dropping one's principles and going profit is a short-sighted policy, doomed to failure.