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  1. #1
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    Hans Mann's Avatar
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    U.S. to activate $800 million missile defense site in Romania

    The United States will switch on a $800 million missile shield in Romania on Thursday, part of an umbrella from Greenland to the Azores against Iranian rockets that Russia aims to knock out its nuclear weapons.

    At the remote Deveselu air base in Romania, senior U.S. and NATO officials will declare operational the ballistic missile defense site capable of shooting down rockets from so-called rogue states that Washington says could one day reach major European cities.

    "Iran continues to develop, test and deploy a full range of ballistic missile capabilities and those capabilities are increasing in range and accuracy," said Frank Rose, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control.

    "Iran's systems can reach into parts of Europe, including Romania," Rose said, before heading to the site to join U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Robert Work and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 0900 GMT.

    On Friday, the United States will break ground on a final site in northern Poland that should be ready by the end of 2018, completing the shield first proposed almost a decade ago and that also includes ships and radars across Europe.

    It will be handed over to NATO control in July.

    Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its Cold War rival in formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe. Moscow says the U.S.-led alliance is trying to encircle it close to the strategically important Black Sea, home to a Russian naval fleet and where NATO is also considering increasing patrols.

    The readying of the shield also comes as NATO prepares a new deterrent in Poland and the Baltics, following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. In response, Russia is reinforcing its western and southern flanks with three new divisions.

    The Kremlin says the shield's aim is to neutralize Moscow's nuclear arsenal long enough for the United States to strike Russia in the event of war. Washington denies that.

    "We are not meddling in anything that could perceived as potentially destabilizing," said Douglas Lute, the United States' envoy to NATO.

    However, Lute said NATO would press ahead with NATO's biggest modernization since the Cold War. "We are deploying at sea, on the ground and in the air across the eastern flanks of the alliance ... to deter any aggressor," he said.

    RUSSIAN WARHEADS

    At a cost of billions of dollars, the missile defense umbrella relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Sensors then measure the rocket's trajectory and destroy it in space before it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.

    While U.S. and NATO officials are adamant that the shield is designed to counter threats from the Middle East and not Russia, they remained vague on whether the radars and interceptors could be reconfigured to defend against Russia in a conflict.

    The United States says Russia has ballistic missiles, in breach of a treaty that agreed the two powers must not develop and deploy missiles with a range of 500 km (310.69 miles) to 5,500 km. The United States declared Russia in non-compliance of the treaty in July 2014.

    The issue remains highly sensitive because the United States does not want to give any impression it would be able to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles that were carrying nuclear warheads, which is what Russia fears.

    (Editing by Tom Heneghan)

    U.S. to activate $800 million missile defense site in Romania | Reuters

  2. #2
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    US missile system in Romania poses threat to Russia: Kremlin


    A view shows the command center for the newly opened ballistic missile defense site at Deveselu air base, Romania, May 12, 2016. İReuters

    A senior Russian official has said the activation of a US missile system in Romania would constitute a threat to Russia's national security.

    "Without doubt, the deployment of the PRO system really is a threat to the security of the Russian Federation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday of the US missile system in Deveselu in southern Romania:

    He added: "Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of security for Russia. The president himself (Vladimir Putin), let me remind you, has repeatedly asked who the system will work against?"

    The remarks came as the United States switched on an $800 million missile system in Romania earlier in the day.

    The US commander in Europe and Africa, Mark Ferguson, at an inauguration ceremony alongside NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, said that the missile system will help defend NATO members against the threat of short and medium-range ballistic missiles.

    Russia has strongly criticized the US installation of a missile system in Romania, describing the decision as a mistake. The Russian Foreign Ministry says the measure flouts the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed between Moscow and Washington in 1987.

    Mikhail Ulyanov, the director of the Russian foreign Ministry's department for non-proliferation and arms control, said on Wednesday that the deployment of US missile systems at military bases in Romania and Poland would undermine strategic stability in Europe.

    However senior US officials are describing it as an important step that will help defend NATO states.

    The United States insists it is not aimed against Russia, but Moscow views it as a security threat on its doorstep.

    Robert Bell, a NATO-based envoy of US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter earlier claimed that the system is supposed to protect Europe from an Iranian missile threat, a claim Moscow has repeatedly rejected, saying the missiles are aimed at Russia instead.

    "The Iranians are increasing their capabilities and we have to be ahead of that. The system is not aimed against Russia," Bell told reporters on Wednesday.

    Russia says Iran’s missile program does not pose a threat to Europe at all, dismissing allegations of perceived threats as unfounded

    Despite American assurances, Moscow accuses Washington of trying to neutralize its nuclear arsenal and buy enough time to make a first strike on Russia in the event of war.


    (L-R) US Admiral and Commander of the US Naval Forces Europe Mark E Ferguson, Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Romanian Prime minister Dacian Ciolos and US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O Work attend the inauguration ceremony of the Aegis Ashore Romania facility at the Deveselu military base on May 12, 2016. (AFP photo)

    During a Senate hearing in April, US Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Brian McKeon, requested a budget boost for the Missile Defense Agency, saying the funding was crucial for upgrading US missile systems to counter Russian and Chinese missiles.

    Russia does not look favorably upon the North Atlantic Organization Treaty (NATO)’s growing deployment of missiles and nuclear weapons near its borders. Last June Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his country would respond to any potential threat by NATO.

    Russia, infuriated by NATO’s eastward expansion, has boosted its defense capabilities along its western border.

    In recent months, NATO has accelerated its biggest military build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War.

    Relations between Russia and NATO specially soured after Crimea rejoined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.

    The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the Ukrainian crisis.

    Russia will not leave US missile systems in Europe unanswered

    Viktor Ozerov, the head of the Russian Federation Council defense and security committee, on Thursday said that Russia will not leave the deployment of US missile systems in Romania and Poland unanswered.

    "We have said repeatedly that this will not improve relations between Russia and the US and between Russia and NATO. Unfortunately, they haven't listened to us. Russia will have to take military-technical countermeasures."

    "This all is very unpleasant to us. Specialists believe that not only can these systems [US missile sites in Romania and Poland] enhance protection but can be very quickly transformed into systems carrying nuclear weapons," Ozerov added, noting, "We believe this is a set of measures aimed at deterring our strategic nuclear forces."

    Experts say Russia could deploy Iskander-M missile systems capable of intercepting targets within a 500-kilometer range in the Kaliningrad region.

    In an interview with Sweden's Dagens Nyheter newspaper in April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said that Russia would also take appropriate military-technical measures at its northern borders if Sweden decides to join NATO.

    PressTV-'US missiles in Romania threat to Russia'

  3. #3
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    The Iranians aren't gonna bomb Europe, that's just stupid talk...

  4. #4
    RIP pseudolus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hans Mann
    part of an umbrella from Greenland to the Azores against Iranian rockets that Russia aims to knock out its nuclear weapons.

    Ahh good old reuters.

    Getting worse each day as they rush to post NATO propaganda. Desperately trying to force IRAN and RUSSIA into one leading sentence.

    So - how would the USA respond is Russia came to an understanding with Mexico to build these butting up against the USA?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bettyboo View Post
    The Iranians aren't gonna bomb Europe, that's just stupid talk...
    They're convenient and believable.
    Need some sort of boogieman to justify the cycle of perpetual build-up.

  6. #6
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    Just what Romania desperately needs ..

  7. #7
    RIP pseudolus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neo View Post
    Just what Romania desperately needs ..
    Probably is.... the truck load of money that the US is shoveling to them fresh from the electronic printing press.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat CaptainNemo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bettyboo View Post
    The Iranians aren't gonna bomb Europe, that's just stupid talk...
    Quite... where else are they going to go shopping?

    Might bomb Thailand though, once they start feeling the itchy impact of what all those exported sex pests are bringing back from Pattaya.

  9. #9
    euston has flown

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bettyboo View Post
    The Iranians aren't gonna bomb Europe, that's just stupid talk...
    stupid or not. the iranians already have missiles which can land on most of the middle east, pakistan and russia.

    That they are developing missiles with ranges that would take them to deepest russia, europe and bits of india does suggest they want to have the option of doing the 'that's just stupid talk...' and that its sufficiently important to them that they are prepared to put government resources into it at the expense of other projects.
    Teakdoor CSI, TD's best post-reality thinkers

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  10. #10
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Oh what would we do without US as a stabiliser in the region, fokkin nice of them to care so much about us

  11. #11
    RIP pseudolus's Avatar
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    Just going to wait here for one of you to write a list of wars started and countries invaded by Iran in the last century.



























    . yep. That's it.

  12. #12
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    The continuous search for manufactured enemies.


    Siwilai.

  13. #13
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    I'd like to see Putin, with the assent of the Chinese level it just before it comes online. Then see what our buffoonish President would do. America really needs to be put in its proper place.

    It's quite obvious America is gearing up for war, maybe a preemptive strike would be in the best interests of the World.

    No I don't expect to make many friends with this post.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR View Post
    I'd like to see Putin, with the assent of the Chinese level it just before it comes online. Then see what our buffoonish President would do. America really needs to be put in its proper place.

    It's quite obvious America is gearing up for war, maybe a preemptive strike would be in the best interests of the World.

    No I don't expect to make many friends with this post.
    Have to agree with you, war, or a new cold war is coming.
    You can't replace the USSR, the communist block, with some Muslims in the middle of the desert, armed with AKs and driving pick up trucks.

    No way to justify aircraft carrier battle groups, supersonic stealth fighter/bombers against baddies that use improvised explosive devices.

    You need a real enemy, or at least one that is a believable threat, in order to spend big on arms and keep the masses under control.

    Reality, neither the Russians or Chinese are capable of some sort of ground/ navel offensive against the west, outside of nukes, no winners there, no threat.

    Even if the Iranians got the tech and were mad enough to use it against Europe, Iran would be glass in seconds.

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