Saturday 16 March 2013

Euro Defence Plan Quietly Shelved

Considering that it has caused much heated debate over the past few years, the fact that America is abandoning the Eastern European missile defence plan hasn't made many headlines here.
Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel, announced that due to development problems and lack of funding, plans to scrap interceptor missiles in Poland and Romania have been shelved and the focus will be shifted to adding 14 new interceptors to the 26 existing ones in Alaska designed to counter perceived threats from North Korea.
Washington claimed that its decision was prompted by the recent belligerence emanating from North
Korea's the Asian countries quicker than expected progress in nuclear weapons development. The changes to the program will free up the money to do so, Hagel said.
Explaining the rationale behind the shift, Hagel said, 'The time line for deploying this program had been delayed to at least 2022 due to cuts in Congressional funding'.
The Kremlin has long argued that the American system was aimed at countering Russian missiles and undermining its nuclear deterrent and the missile shield faced strong opposition in Poland and Romania.
I have never really understood why we needed a missile defence system in Europe, especially from Iran who was often mentioned, when Iran isn't threatening anyone and doesn't have any missiles that can attack us and isn't building any either but Hagel stressed that Washington's commitment in Europe 'remains ironclad'.
Cheers Chucky but you can keep your defence systems over there, we will take our chances thanks but it is nice to see that despite despite the budget cuts there, you are not using the $1 bn savings from not going through with the Eastern Europe defence missiles to build any more schools or hospitals there but are instead handing it to the Defence department to build missiles anyway.
Those budget cuts to the Defence department won't last long i suspect.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

God, do I wish we didn't have to protect Europe. Our defense budget would be 25% less.

Seems yawl didn't learn anything from 2 world wars - caught with your pants down both times. maybe having that water between you and the rest of Europe makes the UK a tad cavalier. of course, that worked before long range bombers, missiles, and rockets...

as for Korea, what do you mean perceived? they may not be able to back up their talk, but they have definitely threatened.

you say iran isn't being bad with nukes, a whole bunch of people with more data than us say they are... you often tell me that i should listen to scientists about global warming... shouldn't you take your own advise and listen to foreign affairs experts?

i always thought the missile defense was our way of getting poland and romania to support the USA politially more than to protect europe

q