US drops plans to build missile defence system in Poland

[Blouman Empire]

So is this the new policy of BO?

Next he will be taking the navy out of the North Pacific.

[Vault 10]

isn't it a bit late to do a complete turn around on this? I mean the policy of not looking weak in front of the Russians (why yes I am thinking of the simpsons) is I assume long dead but then that leaves the big question of what the new US policy of dealing with Russia would be

On the contrary. US has shown resolve to still build the system despite the Russian demands, and kinda won that round. The not looking weak part has been done.

However, once that's over with, there's no reason to actually go through with it. It's mostly useless militarily and harmful politically (apart from disturbing the Poles, it spoils own scare tactics). So, once the scandal has been mostly forgotten, we can quietly shove it under the carpet and save a couple dozen billion.

[Delator]

So is this the new policy of BO?

Next he will be taking the navy out of the North Pacific.

My sarcasm-detector must be broken today...

...or do you seriously believe such a thing?

[United Russian State]

If you don't mind me asking, from your experience, how do most Russians feel about this whole thing? Because the impression I had was that it was causing trouble and making Russians uncomfortable, but your post suggests that nobody really gave a shit in the first place.

Oh, it does bother me, I was just given my impression on how I never saw it as a military threat. It does show America has no intreasts in up holding it's promises that were made, such as NATO expension and military built up in Europe. It makes me very uncomfortable knowing America still has it's bases and soldiers in countries in Germany even with the collapse of Soviet Union. They already used them to attack Serbia.I don't trust Obama, maybe many Americans will buy into this, but I am not. He supports Georgia just like Bush did, and him and his vice presidents statements show what they reall think of us. I don't see this changing much of anything. Maybe it can lead to a reduction of nukes, but agreements like this is not new

[Call to power]

It bears repeating, we aren't in a cold war anymore, theres no need to adopt an Us vs Them mentality. It only makes things worse. Diplomacy is greatly pefferable

I don't know about that Russia seems rather keen on maintaining a sphere of influence something which Eastern Europe is not so keen on

Very good...I'm tired of the US subsidising Europe's defense. They've got money, if they want missile defense against Iran so badly (as we all know the scrapped system was of absolutely no value against Russia), they can pay for it themselves.

to be fair its not like there isn't a US presence in Europe atm which should a rouge state manage to hit will royally ruin the day (US airbases in the UK being a pretty big one seeing as how much logistics is handled through the place)

[Meridistan]

http://cdi.org/program/document.cfm?Doc ... /index.cfm

As expected, he isn't just dropping the idea of a defence system, just the details.

President Obama has approved the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a phased, adaptive approach for missile defense in Europe. This approach is based on an assessment of the Iranian missile threat, and a commitment to deploy technology that is proven, cost-effective, and adaptable to an evolving security environment.

Starting around 2011, this missile defense architecture will feature deployments of increasingly-capable sea- and land-based missile interceptors, primarily upgraded versions of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), and a range of sensors in Europe to defend against the growing ballistic missile threat from Iran. This phased approach develops the capability to augment our current protection of the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats, and to offer more effective defenses against more near-term ballistic missile threats. The plan provides for the defense of U.S. deployed forces, their families, and our Allies in Europe sooner and more comprehensively than the previous program, and involves more flexible and survivable systems.

More specific info located in the article for those who care.

[Takaram]

While the idea of a missile defense system against Russia Iran was not a bad idea, putting it up would only have succeeded in pissing Russia off.