Robert Amsterdam

From the Epoch Times article that cites Robert Amsterdam: Mr Amsterdam also noted that; "When the United States and Europe wished to defend themselves against the possibility of rogue missiles from Asia, President Putin threatened to point Russian nuclear missiles at London, Paris and Berlin."

I find that sentence extremely disingenuous.

1) To reach the U.S. from Asia requires ICBMs. There are no rogue intercontinental ballistic missiles in Asia. The possibility of their existence in the next 20 years is slim. The U.S. government made similar scary-sounding reports in the mid-90s that Iran was 10 years away from nuclear-equipped ICBMs, and history has shown they are no closer today than they were 12 years ago. While India and Pakistan have had nuclear weapons for decades, neither nation, with more resources than Iran, has been able to build ICBMs capable of carrying nuclear devices.

2) There are existing nuclear-equipped intercontinental ballistic missiles in Russia.

3) The proposed Polish/Czech system will largely be monitoring and capable of targeting locations within western Russia. In fact, that is its greatest area of coverage.

4) Combined with the system in Alaska, almost the entire nation of Russia would be covered by U.S. anti-ballistic missile radar and interceptors.

5) While Russia is being given lip-service from the Bush administration about not being a target for the ABM system, the fact remains that the only ICBMs that exist and can be targeted by the proposed system are Russian. Further, Russia was not invited to participate in the system - this is being imposed upon them unilaterally. If you are not inside the shield, than you are outside. And if you are outside and possess ICBMs, than you are a target. The system is not discriminatory The calculation is pretty simple.

6) While Russia's nuclear deterrent likely would overwhelm any currently proposed system in a full-scale nuclear attack, the system does extremely limit tactical nuclear launches that could theoretically by part of the Russian defense from conventional armed forces.

7) Putin said that installation of such systems in Europe makes those locations a target. He was merely pointing out the obvious. I am quite sure that military leaders in Europe were already well aware of this fact. While he was coarse in pointing this out, I believe it is misrepresenting the situation to present his words as an unprovoked threat. To present it as he threatened to "point Russian nuclear missiles at London, Paris and Berlin" approaches a bold-faced lie. What I have seen in print from English language sources quotes Putin as follows:

"The anti-missile shield is part of a nuclear system that protects American territory," Putin said in an interview with newspapers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations. "For the first time in history, elements of it are being moved to Europe.

"If the US nuclear potential extends across the European territory, we will get new targets in Europe," he said. "It will then be up to our military experts to identify which targets will be aimed by ballistic missiles and which ones will be aimed by cruise missiles."