Russia is NOT a pet

From Townhall.com.

Welcome to SpaceWar I

There is a lot of talk about the shooting down of a U.S. spy satellite by the U.S. Military, most of it speculating on what spy technology we did not want to fall into the wrong hands. But I think the real reason is that the Pentagon has been looking for an excuse to show off the successful Missile Shield technology, before it becomes an issue in the Presidential Campaign. Now, it will be hard for a Democratic President to talk about defunding the program, because it has shown concrete results.

Unfortunately, it may also encourage China to step up its own SpaceWar efforts, which the USA had previously criticized strongly.

Russia Counters

Russia has countered our proposal for a missile defense system by saying that we should put our missile defense in Turkey, Iraq, or on sea platforms. So, let me get this straight... putting our missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic is a threat to Russia's balance of power, but putting them in Turkey or Iraq which appear to be *closer* to Russia is okay? I read somewhere that one of the Russian leaders in this is former KGB and wants to return to the Soviet Union style Russia. Is this Russia admitting that they want Poland and the Czech Republic back?

The link above is a NY Times article which seemed to have a good summary and a small number of ads. For those that prefer, here is a USA Today article (Unfortunately, it appears to have a pop-up, but the FireFox pop-up blocker blocks it).

For those wondering where Azerbaijan is, you can see it on the map just north of Iran.

Another cool thing, apparently the NY Times allows you to double click words on their site to get a definition (such as finding out about Azerbaijan). Very cool.

Iran Laughs; Russia Threatens Europe

Iran is laughing at us for saying that the new missile defense shield to be placed in Europe is to protect Europe from them because their missiles won't reach that far. Part of me is surprised that they would readily admit this given that it shows weakness. The part of me that isn't surprised thinks that perhaps this is just to further provoke Russia which is now claiming that it may have to attack Europe to keep the balance of power. I can't imagine that Russia would seriously do this, but then again we have been at odds with Russia in the past few years. Perhaps a pro-Soviet Union elected leadership could cause trouble.

Also, while Poland and the Czech Republic are our friends now, what happens if they turn on us? Will we be in the position we've been in the past with fighting against our own technology? We seem to have a habit as a country of giving support to a country and then fighting them some years later.

New Russian Missile Bypasses U.S. Missile Shield

Russia has announced a successful test of a prototype missile that would bypass the proposed U.S. missile shield in Europe. I find the missile shield debate interesting. I think the logic that "We signed the agreement with the USSR and the USSR doesn't exist anymore" is not completely solid. On the other hand, we shouldn't be held to an agreement with a country just because the capital is the same. The idea of the shield is to protect against threats such as Iran and North Korea. If Russia's missile defeats this shield, we're then depending on Russia not to sell Iran or North Korea (or anyone else for that matter) this missile technology. We've seen in the past, that Russia is willing to sell military technology to nations unfriendly to the U.S.

Ironically, this quote came up on my Google Home Page:

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

- Ronald Reagan