Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Daily News & Analysis
By Bruno Waterfield (Daily Telegraph)
May 4, 2012

Russia has threatened Nato with military strikes in Poland and Romania if a missile defence radar and interceptors are deployed in Eastern Europe.

General Nikolai Makarov, Russia’s most senior military commander, warned Nato that if it proceeded with an American missile defence system, force would be used against it.

“A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” he said.

General Makarov has threatened to target Nato bases hosting an anti-missile system designed by the US to protect European allies against attack from states such as Iran.

He said that Russia would counter Nato deployment by stationing short-range Iskander missiles in the Russian Kaliningrad enclave near Poland, creating the worst military tensions since the Cold War. …

Read on: www.dnaindia.com/world/report_russia-threatens-to-strike-at-nato-missile-defence-bases_1684335

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

Itar Tass
March 23, 2012

A Russia-NATO summit, which was scheduled in May, is cancelled. According to the official version, the summit was cancelled over “an intensive domestic political calendar in Russia.” However, the experts believe that this step is caused by disagreements of the parties concerned over the European missile defence system.

The Russia-NATO summit has stalled over the European missile defence system, the Kommersant daily reported. Experts noted that the decision to cancel a May meeting between Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is linked with the disagreement over the vital issue. This is the missile defence system in Europe. The Russia-NATO summit was scheduled in Chicago in May, the newspaper recalled. However, the NATO general secretary stated that the summit will not be held at the scheduled time. He called as the reason “an intensive domestic political calendar in Russia.” The negotiators have nothing to say to each other, this is why the summit was postponed, director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting Alexander Gusev noted.

“The postponement of the Russia-NATO summit is certainly linked with a quite serious political situation, primarily in Europe, over the deployment of the European missile defence along the borders with Russia. The question was certainly not settled. This primarily concerns relations between Russia and the EU states, so, the places, where the European missile defence systems will be deployed,” he noted. “I would like the summit to be held. All parties are interested in this, namely the United States, the NATO leadership, the EU states and Russia in the same way.”

Read on: www.itar-tass.com/c142/373668.html

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

RIANOVOSTY
March 6, 2012

The Russian president is unlikely to attend a NATO summit in Chicago if the missile defense issue is not on its agenda

The Russian president is unlikely to attend a NATO summit in Chicago if the missile defense issue is not on its agenda, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

“Russia has an invitation to the NATO summit; everything depends on the agenda,” he said.

However, if the issue of the NATO missile defense system remains unchanged, then the chances of the Russian president attending the summit “will be even smaller,” he added. …

Read on: en.rian.ru/world/20120306/171790591.html

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

RT
March 14, 2012

American authorities could soon be sharing classified data on their missile defense system with Russia in an effort to recruit their former Cold War foe to prepare against possible rocket strikes.

Officials from within the White House tell reporters this week that Washington is considering talks with Moscow that could lead to both nations exchanging top-secret intelligence involving their respective missile-defense systems. Responding to an inquiry on the talks, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday that the Obama administration is indeed looking to iron out a deal with Russia that would satisfy the desires of both nations.

Sharing missile defense data has been a sticking point between the two major nuclear superpowers since the US announced plans to build an anti-missile shield in Europe. Even after both parties agreed to cooperate on anti-missile defense, Moscow and Washington have been at odds over if and how their respective anti-missile programs should be managed jointly. Russia has asked for the United States’ cooperation by insisting that the missile defense systems of the countries be united into one global program; the US, on the other hand, has favored separate programs, although they have at the same time advocated for establishing a working relationship between the two. Should these developments prove true then, the US and Russia could soon ink out a deal that would see Washington siding with Moscow’s demands.

According to the latest reports, the US could be extending to Russia some top-secret intelligence on American interceptor missiles; in return, Russia might very well contribute assistance of their own by offering access to its own radar system and missile-defense program. …

Read on: http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-share-missile-russia-561/

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

RIA Novosti
January 20, 2012

The United States and its NATO allies already have about one thousand missiles capable of intercepting Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Russian deputy premier in charge of defense said.

“Along with its allies, whom the U.S. now persuades to buy ships equipped with the Aegis Combat System, the overall potential can be estimated at about 1,000 interceptor missiles,” Dmitry Rogozin [Deputy Prime Minister] who is also the Russian president’s special representative for talks with NATO, said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

He said that the figure is currently approaching the limits established by the recently signed Russia-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty.

“There are no guarantees that after the first, second, and third phases [of the U.S. missile shield project] are completed, there will be no fourth, fifth and sixth. Do you really think they will halt all their technologies after 2020? That’s nonsense! …”

He said that U.S. interceptor missiles cover all European Russia to the Urals Mountains, and are capable of hitting not only small and medium-range missiles of “rogue states,” but also intercontinental ballistic missiles of Russia’s armed forces.

“The fact that the missile defense system can hit strategic missiles and the fact that those bases and fleet are deployed in northern seas demonstrate the evident… anti-Russian nature of the [U.S.] missile defense,” Rogozin said. …

Read in full: http://en.ria.ru/world/20120120/170856516.html

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

The Wall Street Journal
By Marcin Sobczyk
January 12, 2012

The U.S. will likely keep its commitment to place missile interceptors in Poland to counter a military threat from Iran regardless of any opposition from Russia and despite defense cutbacks, a U.S. senator said Thursday.

U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009 scrapped the missile-defense plan drafted by his predecessor, George W. Bush, under which Poland would host a base near its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The U.S. later proposed a new system envisaging 24 interceptors in Poland at the same location.

“Indications are that despite defense cutbacks, we’re going to maintain the commitment to build the Polish missile-defense system, and that is because the threat from Iran is growing, it’s clear that Iran’s nuclear programs are accelerating,” Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk told reporters in Warsaw.

“My hope is that we stay on schedule for a 2018 full operational capability of 24 interceptors at Redzikowo to defend NATO and the United States,” he added. “The Russians have been pretty hostile to missile defense. They say that in some way this threatens their nuclear deterrents, but we’re going to build only 24 interceptors in Poland and last I checked Russia has more than 24 nuclear weapons. … We need to defend a free, sovereign and independent Poland regardless of what Russia thinks.” …

Read on: blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2012/01/12/u-s-likely-to-press-on-with-missile-defense-in-poland/

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

RIA Novosti
December 22, 2011

Russia is ready for constructive dialogue on missile defense with its Western partners but hopes for give and take, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

“I only want to confirm that we are open for constructive dialogue and substantive work with our partners, if they learn to listen to us,” Medvedev said in his final state-of-the-nation address before he steps down next year.

“We count on reciprocity in order to reach mutually acceptable solutions as soon as possible and to maintain an atmosphere of trust.”

Russia-NATO missile defense talks have stalled as Moscow is seeking legally binding guarantees that the U.S.-backed European missile defense program will not be directed against it.

Washington, however, refuses to provide the guarantees, saying the shield is directed against rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. …

http://en.ria.ru/world/20111222/170426656.html

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

Global Security Newswire
December 5, 2011

The U.S. ambassador to NATO on Friday said the Obama administration initiative to establish a missile defense system across Europe would go forward “whether Russia likes it or not,” Reuters reported.

The U.S. plan calls for deploying a web of missile interceptors and associated technology in nations such as Poland, Romania and Turkey. The plan would provide the backbone of a planned NATO missile shield, and the Western alliance has spent the last year trying to persuade Russia to join the effort.

Moscow, though, says the NATO system might be aimed at countering Russia’s nuclear forces. It has threatened to deploy short-range missiles in its Baltic enclave and to withdraw from the New START nuclear arms control treaty if an agreement on missile defense cannot be reached with Washington and NATO.

However, U.S. Ambassador Ivo Daalder informed journalists the Kremlin’s problems with the planned missile shield “won’t be the driving force in what we do.”

Since the Obama administration announced its “phased adaptive approach” for European missile defense in fall 2009 — a scaled-back approach to an earlier Bush administration plan — U.S. calculations of the danger of a ballistic missile strike from Iran have only increased, Daalder said.

“It’s accelerating and becoming more severe than even we thought two years ago,” Daalder said of the Iranian missile threat. …

Read on: www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20111205_9867.php

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

Russia Today

Missile defense: no border breaking

The military measures outlined by President Dmitry Medvedev in response to America’s controversial missile defense system in Europe will be taken within Russia’s borders, according to senior Russian MP Konstantin Kosachev.

­“All the announced measures are being and will be taken by the Russian Federation within its national borders,” he said, adding that it is Russia’s sovereign right. “Unlike the USA and its NATO allies, we are not going beyond these bounds,” Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, told a media conference.

The foreign policy architect added that the actions listed by Medvedev, including Russia’s possible withdrawal from the New START treaty, do not violate the country’s international obligations. He pointed out that the document provides for such a withdrawal and the president had “only reminded about this possibility” and noted that Russia may use it under certain circumstances.

According to Kosachev, the president’s statement amounts to a coercive measure. However, he emphasized that to the last, Moscow had tried to avoid a situation where such measures were necessary. Russia urged its American partners to find a compromise on missile defense “when we still had an opportunity to come to an agreement in the sphere of strategic stability.” The Russian side had put forward quite a few options, but Washington declined them all. …

Read on: http://rt.com/politics/kosachev-missile-defense-us-137/

Tags: by caab
No Comments »

Reuters
By Steve Gutterman
November 9, 2011

Russia on Wednesday vehemently criticized a U.N. nuclear watchdog report saying Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atom bomb, saying it contained no new evidence and was being used to undercut efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.

Sharpening opposition to any new sanctions against Iran in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia has veto power, senior diplomats said further punitive measures would be “destructive” and urged a revival of talks between Tehran and global powers.

The Russian remarks came during a visit by a senior Iranian official for talks on the program which Tehran says is peaceful but the United States and its allies fear is aimed at developing the capability to build atomic weapons.

They underscored a divide between Russia and the West over a report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency that deepened U.S. and European suspicions about Tehran’s intentions.

“According to our initial evaluations, there is no fundamentally new information in the report,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We are talking about a compilation of known facts, given a politicized tone,” it said, adding that interpretations of the report brought to mind the use of faulty intelligence to seek support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. …

Analysts say Moscow may have calculated that it has little to gain from supporting new sanctions against Iran. This would further hurt ties already damaged by Russia’s backing of the most recent measures in June 2010, when President Dmitry Medvedev also scrapped a deal to deliver air-defense missiles to Tehran.

Those sanctions were adopted at a time of improving relations between Russia and the United States, after President Barack Obama downsized a European missile defense plan that Russia opposed and signed a nuclear arms limitation treaty with Medvedev.

Read in full: www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-nuclear-iran-russia-idUSTRE7A857620111109

Tags: by caab
No Comments »