ABM-treaty (russian perspective)

[Nemesis77]

<< ...AS EXPERTS SAY KREMLIN LOOKS FORWARD TO RESTRUCTURING ARSENAL
Meanwhile, Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov said on 13 December that following the official cessation of the ABM Treaty, Russia will have full liberty to restructure the composition of its nuclear forces, including the definition of the number of warheads on its ballistic missiles, Radio Mayak reported. Russia will also have an opportunity to "correct a mistake made by previous Russian leadership that agreed to destroy its most efficient ABM system," the radio station reported him as saying in reference to cuts agreed by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Meanwhile, General Anatolii Kvashnin, the chief of the Russian General Staff, said retreat from the ABM Treaty poses no problems as far as Russia's national security is concerned, smi.ru reported the same day. However, he said the move by the United States could encourage many states to enter an arms race, as the system of international controls and inspection based on the ABM Treaty will be hamstrung. >>



Ooops!

Source

 

[Czar]

shucks, didnt see that comming now did we :Q

 

[ElFenix]

what are the russians gonna do, launch missles against us?

 

[Czar]

<< what are the russians gonna do, launch missles against us? >>


no one is saying that, just that now a new cold war could be begining.

 

[charrison]

czar,

It is highly doubtful that a new cold war will begin of the US dropping out of this treaty. THe relations between the Russia and the US have greatly changed.

 

[ElFenix]

the cold war was an ideological challenge on every front. would there be an arms race? highly doubtful. its simply not possible to build an ABM shield large enough to defend against either a russian or american nuclear salvo. the chinese might build a 100 more missiles, they really don't need very many to punch through our stated dozen or two interceptor missiles. that dozen or two will take care of a handful of custom built rockets launched our way by kim jong il or islamic fundamentalists in iran. (given the trend toward more liberal government in iran today, the later isn't so far-fetched)

 

[Czar]

charrison,
I agree that its very unlikely, but after this there is a possibility, before there was none.

 

[Hallzy]

All this trouble 'cause George want's to develop his anti missle gun. **lets shoot down a missle, with another missle.....hmmmm thats like deflecting a bullet with a bullet. **

Pure stupidity

Welcome to the new Cold War a gift from George W. Bush

 

[Czar]

<< All this trouble 'cause George want's to develop his anti missle gun. **lets shoot down a missle, with another missle.....hmmmm thats like deflecting a bullet with a bullet. **

Pure stupidity

Welcome to the new Cold War a gift from George W. Bush >>


http://cagle.slate.msn.com/comics/updating/wasserman.gif

 

[SuperSix]

Riiiiiiiiight..


They don't have a pot to piss in and are going to rebuild their arsenal..


Again... riiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

 

[FettsBabe]

<< They don't have a pot to piss in and are going to rebuild their arsenal >>



Neither did America in the beginning but look where we are now

 

[ElFenix]

you know, because george w bush was the guy who started funding the idea of an ABM...
/me delves into history books
hey what do you know, that was bill clinton!

and hey what do you know al gore wanted to continue research into it!

 

[UltraQuiet]

OK here's the deal with the ABM treaty

1. It is not designed to stop nation states from launching. MAD does that. Even with the planned drawdowns MAD is still the deterrence. We have enough on Tridents and the Sovs have enough land based to ensure this. The Russians know they can defeat any ABM system that is forseeable. One of their fears is that it will turn into something more capable down the road.

2. China. China has a comparably limited nuclear arsenal. The main fear of backing out of ABM treaty is how is China is going to react. Everything I have read says that they were going to increase the size of their arsenal anyway. They have been developing missiles and launch platforms for years and continue to do so.

3. The other problem is India and Pakistan. As China increases they will want to also. The trick will be to convince them not to. And to try to convince China to limit their production. So you see the key here is China, not Russia.

Am I for an ABM system? Yes to a limited extent. We somehow need to build a limited system to get that rogue missile and convince the rest of the world that that is all it will ever be, a limited capabilitiy. Bush has a very tough job ahead of him in that regard.

 

[charrison]

There has been ABM research going on for the last 20 years, but no one bitched when abm funding and tests were done under the previous democratic admin.

 

[ttn1]

This is sort of funny. People have no idea what they are screaming about. The "Star Wars" program has brought about many technological advances that have helped society in general.

The major advance has been relatively cheap low earth orbit satellites for communications. This idea of throwing up lots of cheap satellites was developed under the "Star Wars" programs. Before that putting satellites up was a huge investment and required billions.

The tracking systems developed for the guided missiles and laser weapons will find there way into many mainstream navigation systems.

Not sure which program GPS was developed under, but I know it was defense money.

I wish everyone would quit bitchin' about defense spending. Alot of good things come from it. Some people are very shortsighted.