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MISSILE DEFENSE THAT "WORKS"

Posted by EWRoss on Monday, September 21, 2009 7:00:00 AM
Despite the great progress the US has made in recent years in missile defense (MD) the debate over its use and effectiveness continues. The roots of that debate remain firmly planted in Cold-War thinking. Mutually assured destruction (MAD) doesn't maintain stability if one side has a MD advantage. Therefore, countries like the Russia and China will always oppose US MD and demand concessions, like Russia's demand that the US cancel the Czech-Poland MD program, as a precondition for arms control and other strategic negotiations.

The proliferation of short, medium, and long-range ballistic missiles by countries like North Korea and Iran, however, make MD an absolute necessity for the United States--North Korea and Iran pose no threat to Russia and China. No one said it better than President George W. Bush in a speech at the West Point Military Academy in 2002. "The gravest danger to freedom lies at the crossroads of radicalism and technology. When the spread of chemical and biological and nuclear weapons, along with ballistic missile technology--when that occurs, even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic power to strike great nations. Our enemies have declared this very intention, and have been caught seeking these terrible weapons."

President Obama frequently states that he favors MD that "works." Most people interpret "works" to mean can it reliably intercept missiles. Works can also mean does it maintain stability between the US, Russia, and China. Democrats have a long history of opposing MD on that basis. Understanding this logic is key to understanding President Obama's cancellation of the Czech-Poland program.

MD that does not provide a capability to intercept long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles is woefully inadequate, and the US must, therefore, develop and deploy such systems. It cannot allow Russia, China, or domestic opponents to dissuade it from that course.

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OBAMA'S MOSCOW TRIP

Posted by EWRoss on Monday, July 06, 2009 7:00:00 AM

When President Barack Obama arrives in Moscow Monday for meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, he will be under intense pressure to cancel US plans to build missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) expires on Dec 5, and Medvedev will hold a new treaty hostage in exchange for Obama's concessions on missile defense in Europe. The Democratic left will encourage Obama to make those concessions. They've been opposed to missile defense from the outset, agreeing with those, including the Russians, who believe it's destabilizing and undercuts arms control agreements. But if Obama truly believes it's time to put Cold-War thinking behind us and face the realities and treats of the future, he won't negotiate away capabilities the US needs to defend and deter against Iranian ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. Unless the US or Israel does something about Iran's nuclear weapons and missile programs, their far smaller arsenal will be a greater threat to US national security than Russia's because of the greater likelihood Iran would use them. How Obama reacts to Russian and left-wing pressure to abandon missile defense in Europe will tell the American people and our enemies much about how Obama intends to defend America.

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NEDA AND MICHAEL - Two Deaths, Two Different Worlds

Posted by EWRoss on Monday, June 29, 2009 8:00:00 AM
Just as “supreme leader” Ayatollah Khamenei’s security forces were massacring Iranian protesters on the streets and cutting off the flow of information from inside Iran, Michael Jackson’s tragic and untimely death eclipsed the story. The death a few days earlier of Neda Agha-Soltan, a beautiful young Iranian woman, shot while watching the protests and whose death captured imaginations and headlines around the world, was all but forgotten.

The intense examination of Jackson’s life and death eventually will subside; people will listen to his music and watch videos of his performances for generations. A few weeks or months from now, only Iranians and those people concerned about them may remember Neda. Michael and Neda came from two very different worlds, and in Michael Jackson’s world it appears there is far more sympathy for him than there is for young men and women dying on the streets of Iran for freedom and democracy.
 
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MAKE THE EARTH STAND STILL

Posted by EWRoss on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 8:00:00 AM
Arnoud de Borchgrave, writing in the June 1 edition of the Washington Times, asks the question “Is the world more dangerous today than it was at the height of the cold War?” Citing North Korea’s recent misbehavior, Iran’s nuclear program, the insecurity of Pakistan’s growing nuclear weapons stockpile, and nuclear proliferation, he gives the obvious answer that it is. For those of us who once thought of ourselves as cold warriors, that’s a frightening thought. Like most Americans we worried about nuclear annihilation during times like the Cuban missile crisis. But we always had the comfort of knowing that our Soviet adversaries had no more desire to go up in a mushroom cloud than we did. Good old mutually assured destruction (MAD) kept both sides’ fingers off the trigger. Today, however, countries and groups that don’t mind going up in the mushroom cloud with us are on the verge of possessing nuclear weapons. Any good oddsmaker will tell you that sooner or later one of them is going to use one. It’d be nice if, like in the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, a wise man from another planet landed in a flying saucer and put the fear of God in everyone so we’d do something about it. Unfortunately, since that won’t happen, we have to figure out how to do it ourselves.
 
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CHANGING AMERICA - From the Bottom Up

Posted by EWRoss on Monday, April 06, 2009 8:00:00 AM
People have spoken and written much about how President Barack Obama’s plans for dealing with America’s domestic and foreign challenges will change America. Liberals and social progressives tend to see them as a blueprint for a kinder, gentler America with “social justice” at home and greater harmony with friends and allies abroad. Conservatives tend to see them as leading the country down the path toward socialism and away from America’s preeminent leadership role in world affairs. I see an America of diverse peoples and interests in pursuit of the American dream that has and will continue to change from the bottom up.
 
 
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