Free Republic

Senate Republicans see a new agreement forged between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as an opportunity to force Democrats’ hand on a major security issue: missile defense. Sixty-seven senators, or two-thirds of those present, must agree to ratify any deal seeking to reduce nuclear weapons between the two nations, giving Senate Republicans, who only control 40 seats, rare leverage. The high bar for ratifying treaties will put pressure on Obama to finish construction of a missile shield in Eastern Europe. At the very least, it will make it very difficult for the president to limit that shield in...

Defense: As we prepare to celebrate our independence, North Korea wants to remind us of Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, we can make use of assets dreamed of by Reagan and deployed by Bush to defend our 50th state. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii on or about July 4. This would be the anniversary of the first Taepodong-2 test on July 4, 2006. It would also mark the 15th anniversary of North Korean President Kim Il Sung's death.Those who know have stopped laughing at North Korea's increasingly credible nuclear and global...

A missile defense system yet to be tested in battle could be thrust to the forefront to protect US soil amid concerns that North Korea may be preparing a missile strike that could hit Hawaii. *snip* As a precaution, Mr. Gates has ordered a portable missile defense system called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD, to be redeployed on Hawaii. A sea-based sensor system known as SBX, which is designed to alert defense systems to an airstrike within seconds, is also part of the deployment. The THAAD system is now positioned at what's called the Pacific Missile...

MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will link U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe with the issues of strategic offensive armaments in relations with the United States, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sunday. "One needn't be an expert to understand: if one party wants or would have an umbrella against all kinds of threats, this party would develop an illusion that it is allowed to do anything and then the aggressiveness of its actions will increase numerously, and the threat of global confrontation will reach a very dangerous level," Putin said in an interview with Japanese...

Prague - The anti-missile shield project would be unnecessary if Iran gave up its military nuclear programme, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his address in Prague today. "If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security and the driving force for missile defence construction in Europe will be removed," Obama said. However, he pointed out that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat not just to the United States but to Iran's neighbours and to U.S. allies. "The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defence...

The Czech parliament's vote of no confidence in the government led by Mirek Topolanek was apparently influenced, among other things, by the government's support for the U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense radar in that country, said Russian Permanent Representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin. "I believe the issue of the deployment of a missile defense facility on Czech soil was among the main and fundamental reasons for Czech society and the Czech opposition to criticize the government led by Topolanek," Rogozin told Interfax on Tuesday, in comments on the political crisis in the Czech Republic. In the current situation,...

Poland says hopes U.S. will not let it down on shield Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:43pm IST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Poland said on Sunday it hoped the new U.S. administration would not abandon plans to station a missile defence system on its territory. President Barack Obama's administration is reviewing U.S. security policy, including the missile shield plan. This has prompted speculation he might shelve a project that has angered Moscow, with which Washington wants to mend ties. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland had taken "something of a political risk" in signing an agreement with the Bush adminstration to...

I’m glad to report that I’m all charged up as a result of my column on Amnesty International (also known as Anti-Semitism International) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). That column ran yesterday in The Bulletin. In it, I showed that Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union are on a lower moral plane than the mass murderers and genocidal maniacs that make up Hamas and al-Qaida. At least the latter two admit their purposes. In its charter, for example, Hamas advocates the slaughter of innocents. So at least they have the honesty lacking in Amnesty International and...

On Tuesday, it was reported that U.S. President Barack Obama had written a “secret letter” last month to Russian “president” Dmitri Medvedev. The letter seemed to propose that the U.S. would back away from its planned missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Russia would force Iran to shut down its long-range missile program. When asked about the document, Obama stated: "What I said in the letter was that obviously to the extent that we are lessening Iran’s commitment to nuclear weapons, then that reduces the pressure for or the need for a missile defense system. In no way does...

Trading away American defenses based on promises from Russia and Iran is the stupidest thing Obama has done… yet!If you read Winston Churchill’s Nobel Prize winning history of the Second World War you’ll be constantly struck by how very right Churchill was to oppose giving up leverage over the Soviet Union until they had fulfilled their pledges to allow Poland to have free elections after the war.At every step along the way President Franklin Roosevelt insisted we had to live up to our agreements to withdraw from occupied German territory. Roosevelt felt that if we showed the Soviets we would...

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) - Washington has told Moscow that Russian help in resolving Iran's nuclear program would make its missile shield plans for Europe unnecessary, a Russian daily said on Monday, citing White House sources. U.S. President Barack Obama made the proposal on Iran in a letter to his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, Kommersant said, referring to unidentified U.S. officials. Iran's controversial nuclear program was cited by the U.S. as one of the reasons behind its plans to deploy a missile base in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. The missile shield has been strongly opposed by...

"33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age" is a high-definition documentary that tells the story of the very real threat that hostile nations and rogue dictators now pose to every one of us. ### The Significance of 33 Minutes A ballistic missile from a foreign enemy would take 33 minutes to reach the United States. With each passing day, this becomes a growing danger to America, yet our government has failed to build the missile defense systems capable of defending us against such attacks. Our enemies are attempting to stockpile arsenals that threaten our freedom and prosperity. North...

BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday confirmed their support for U.S. plans to install anti-missile defenses in Europe despite Russia's strong opposition. The ministers said the planned U.S. defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic will make a "substantial contribution" to protecting allies from the threat of long-range ballistic missiles. Russia has vehemently opposed the deployment, threatening to respond by placing short-range missiles in its westernmost region, Kaliningrad, which borders Poland. The U.S. insists the defenses are aimed at potential attack from Iran and pose no threat to Russia's ballistic arsenal. All 26 NATO allies signed the statement...

Keep missile shield out of Poland, Czech Republic, Obama warned By Moscow correspondent Scott Bevan Posted 9 hours 26 minutes ago Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned the President-elect Barack Obama that Moscow will respond if he pushes on with plans for a missile defence system in Europe. Speaking at a human rights law conference in St Petersburg, Mr Putin has said the US plan for the missile defence shield is aimed at Russia's strategic potential. Russia can only give the project an adequate response, the Prime Minister added. Mr Putin has urged Mr Obama to drop the plan...

Early in his campaign, Barack Obama pledged to end missile defense. He made a video stating the goal quite clearly. Perhaps the wishful thinkers who have been telling us that Obama would govern as a centrist might want to provide an interpretation of the latest weasel words of the preznit-elect, from the Beeb, US President-elect Barack Obama has not given a commitment to go ahead with plans to build part of a US missile defence system in Poland, an aide says. He was speaking after Polish President Lech Kaczynski's office said a pledge had been made during a phone conversation...

The Kremlin has been dusting off old Bolshevik intimidation techniques since the U.S. signed a missile defense partnership with Poland last month. The Russian foreign ministry promised that its response "would go beyond diplomacy," and a Russian general mused that this meant its nuclear missiles would have to target Poland. Who would have thought such talk would find an accommodating ear in the U.S. Congress? That will be the question when Illinois Republican Representative Mark Kirk offers an amendment in the coming days to the Defense Appropriations bill to restore funding for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech...

With the possibility of an Iranian missile onslaught on Israel looming, the US Navy recently held an unprecedented exercise testing the communications network supporting its Aegis missile defense system across the Middle East. The test took place on the weekend of June 28 while Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen was in Israel for talks with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and just days after Chief of US Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead concluded a visit here for talks with his counterpart, V.-Adm. Eliezer Marom. The communications test, revealed in the Navy...

Tests show US shield 'not needed' Iran launched a series of missile tests in the desert this week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the results of Iran's missile tests prove that US plans for a defence shield in Europe are unnecessary.Mr Lavrov said the tests confirmed Tehran had missiles with a limited range of up to 2,000km (1,240 miles). The US says it wants shield sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to defend it and its allies from rogue states. Meanwhile, Iraqi and Israeli officials denied media reports that Israeli air force jets trained in Iraqi...

33 Minutes and Why it is Important in this New Missile Age In January of 2009, The Heritage Foundation will release a high-definition documentary that tells the story of the very real threat that hostile nations and rogue dictators now pose to every one of us. The truth is brutal: in 33 minutes or less a missile launched at America would hit the U.S. target it was programmed to destroy. We must cause people to stop and face this horrible reality. Aptly named, 33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age, our documentary will be a key component in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iran's test of a long-range missile shows the need for the United States to expand its missile defense system into Europe, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Iran's test of a long-range missile shows that it is "a real threat." 1 of 2 "We've been saying as we talk about missile defense in Europe that there is a real threat, and the test this morning underscores it," Gates said hours after Iran's test. Russia has strongly opposed the U.S. program of expanding the missile defense system into Eastern Europe in countries such...