President Obama Was Right To Scrap The Anti-Missile Shield In Europe

September 18, 2009

Adam Lovejoy writes: U.S. President, Barack Obama, was absolutely right to scrap the anti-missile shield, the European based Star Wars system, that was intended for deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic to counter the so-called ‘missile threat’ from Iran. It was a stupid idea in the first place, and it came from the Bush Administration that has managed to create so much tension around the world that it would probably be a good idea to reappraise all of its military and foreign policy ‘initiatives’ and cancel or downgrade most of them.Although all the usual suspects in the United Sates immediately started to criticise Mr Obama, and even claimed that it was a surrender to Iran and Russia, the question that I have is this: what was the point of having an American anti-missile shield in Europe if Iran does not have a long range missile capability and would not have an effefctive nuclear arsenal for years to come? Not to mention that the system would not have been able, like some people were probably hoping, to prevent Russia from potentially destroying Europe, a hundred times over, with its nukes, if it ever came to such an unlikely scenario.

So what was exactly the point of deploying a system which was upsetting the Russians a lot while not brining any advantages from the point of view of real defence? To please some fanatically anti-Russian groups in Poland and the Czech Republic, who were keen on spoiling relations between NATO and Russia? Especially considering that Russia is crucial for preventing Iran from getting its own nuclear capability in the near future.

The whole idea of scrapping the missile defence shield puts the ball firmly in the Russian side of the court. Moscow will now have to do something specific to respond to the American goodwill gesture, as regards its involvement in the Iranian nuclear programme. It would have to do something practical, and I would not be surprised if the American officials were not already pressing the Kremlin hard on this issue.

And another thing: why should an anti-missile system that is intended to deter an attack by Iran be based in Poland and the Czech Republic? Would it not be more sensible to have an anti-missile deterrent based in the Mediterranean Sea, that could neutralise Iranina missiles at a much earlier stage? I find it bizarre that some experts are saying that land-based anti-missiles systems are much more effective than sea-based ones. That would imply that Britain’s nuclear deterrent is actually non-effective and is just there for public relations purposes. Just like the French one.

The argument that the supporters of the Bush Administration’s plan use is that Europe would be left wide open to an attack by Iran. But if it is so, then how come Britain and Germany have already welcomed the move by President Obama, and so did NATO’s General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen? It does seem a bit odd, does it not, that the very Europeans who are supposedly left unprotected are welcoming the new development.

The most important thing now is not to misinterpret the signals coming from Moscow. For a while the Kremlin will continue supporting Iran and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, has already made noises, saying that new sanctions against Iran will be a mistake. But it is just Moscow trying to get as much PR advantage out of the American decision to scrap the deployment of the missile defence shield. All of this is intended for the domestic audience. In the longer run it will be much easier to deal with the Kremlin, for it has no money to stage any serious muscle flexing and take responsive measures that it promised to take in case the system would have been deployed.

President Obama made the right decision about the missile defence. The next one should be about the pull out of American troops from Afghanistan. The war there is unwinnable and he should do what is right.

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