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[Wooster]

This eejit's going to be the fucking death of us with this Missile Defence system.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102300706.html?hpid=moreheadlines

1) There is no definitive evidence that there is any threat at all
2) He cites Iran as being a problem, so why the fuck is he putting them in Poland and the Czech Republic (just to wind up Russia obviously..since the original plan to intimidate Nth Korea fell through)
3) The system probably won't work anyway.

Europe has gone from strength to strength in recent years and now we have an arsehole who's primary motivation in life is the accumulation of wealth for a select few, acting to destabilise us again and put us on the back foot.
I also doubt that he's completely ignorant and knows full well that the threats he cites from 'rogue nations' are unlikely to take the form of an expensive and difficult to develop missile system.
The cheap and effective method of weapon delivery is to put it into something anonymous and plentiful, like a shipping container which you don't even need to get on shore.
If Iran developed a nuke and wanted to fuck us, then all they need to do is get one ship up the Thames or the Hudson with one on board and then detonate it...but there's no money in low-tech is there?
You really need to spark an arms race to get the serious cash rolling into the fat cats pockets.

[Centurion]

Hear Hear...Mr Wooster Sir....Well said.

[Nivlac]

I went off on 3 co-workers and a visiting sales rep about the idiot last week. All 4 of them seem to think he is doing such a fine job of things (fucking lemmings if you ask me) One of them asked "what? would you rather have Clinton back?" I told him hell yes - at least he was only fucking an intern Bush is fucking the whole country and the world. I got a gasp out of them and a hey....guess I wasn't being a good Christian by not supporting him. Then the genius sales rep makes the statement that Greenland has a wonderful agricultural society that isn't effected by global warming WTF? I tried to explain to him it's covered in ice and he must be thinking of Iceland - to which he replies "No why do you think they are called Greenland and Iceland ...I tried to explain but he cut me off. I got a little pissy with him and told him I could look it up for you on the Internet genius - he turned away 

Just a little over a year before the idiot has to leave the Whitehouse, but thats enough time for him to start a war with Iran, Russia and China.

[Wooster]

genius sales rep makes the statement that Greenland has a wonderful agricultural society that isn't effected by global warming WTF?

[keasy]

Thing with low tech delivery is that intel gets a longer time to get whiff of the threat and intercept it.

I reckon states like Iran would love ICBM's as they are hard to deflect, I doubt if they would dare salvo a live nuclear warhead though.


Shahab-3   

the mighty Iranian weapons delivery platform sits in it's silo fuelling up on on dead flys, melted animal fats and E-coli.

[Vasco]

Ok two things....

1st - My organisation just sponsored 3 school girls to go on an educational trip to Greenland to study the effects of global warming.  They have just returned and told me they were very surprised that the native Greenlanders think global warming is great.  Greenland being covered in ice has never been able to grow anything.  All their vegetables etc are imported.  Now with global warming they can grow potatoes and tomatoes in wamer areas on their west coast.  The Reindeer, which they hunt, also have more grazing land with the ice retreating.

2nd - Bushes threats to put missiles in Poland etc are political moves not military.  This is all about who now has influence over the former soviet territories and is part of the political game the Russians are playing with the USA and vice versa.  The situation is complicated but if I try and simplify it it goes a little like this.

Iraq kept Iran at bay and stopped Iran being the largest and most dominant power in the Middle East. USA ousted Sadam to put a benign government into Iraq to keep that status quo but they have failed to achieve that.  If Iraq falls apart then Iran moves in and takes it over. This would make Iran the most powerful country in the middle east and they could easily take over the rest of the middle east or form some type of hegimony in the area.  This would have a huge influence on international economies as Iran would control all of the Middle East Oil and its finances.  The US is thus totally committed to preventing this.

At the same time the USA is caught up in Afghanistan therefore militarily it is fully committed and has no spare capacity.  In other words a new conflict anywhere else in the world would be a disaster for the USA.  They would have to compromise in Iraq which again would enhance Irans influence.

Now to Russia, they are the remnants of the once mighty Soviet Empire and they don't like being treated as small fry.  Which they have been by both the USA and Europe since the collapse of the USSR.  They now see that the USA is vulnerable and that by manipulating things they can make life very awkward politically for the USA to the extent that they can destroy the USAs relationship with some of its oil producing allies etc.  Putin is taking advantage of this to prove that Russia still has influence and still has power even if it is a bit smaller.  Putin's trip to Iran was part of this political game.

At the moment Bush is looking for a way to get out of Iraq while keeping Iran at bay and Putin in threatening to support Iran to prove that the USA and Europe should show Russia the same respect they showed the Soviet Union.   Bushes statements about putting missiles on ex-soviet territory are the USA statement to Russia that they may have some power but they still aren't what the old Soviet Union was.  This is all political posing and muscle flexing. 

This is a very simplistic description of the strategic situation as it is further complicated by Turkey, The Kurds, Egypt, Syria, and other issues that all impact on the relationships that the USA has throughout Eastern Erupoe and the Middle East.  Relationships that are vital to the USA.

Does this mean I support Bush and what he is doing?  No it doesn't, he has painted the USA into a corner and is struggling to get it out and I am simply providing a strategic analysis of what is behind the move.

Will a change of government and a new President change anything?  Only a little, the new President will face the same political issues and will quickly find that the options the new government have are very limited.     

[Wooster]

Some good points well made..

There's been some developments with regard to Iran today with the imposition of financial sanctions (mostly by the USA...and no sanctions against their oil business I see)).
While I agree that there will be some supply of weapons and expertise from Iran to Iraq, it's not as if it's unexpected given the ties between the populations of the two countries and it should have been anticipated. (*cough*IRA*cough*  )
In fact it could be argued that the administration has gone out of their way to aggravate them with their refusal to accept a deal by Iran in 2003, a deal which they tried to put back on the table recently...too late though.

As for Russia, their reaction is also going to be fairly predictable, they don't intimidate easily.

I'm not a huge fan of Ahmadinejad, the Mullahs or Putin but time and again the West tries using the big stick with the same people, and time and again it doesn't work. And this missile programme was homeless until a problem was created for it.
Maybe it's time to try something different.

[Vasco]

Definetly time for something different but the trouble is what? 

The USA Politicians are really struggling to find an alternative because the current situation is hurting.  So while they search we will see a continuation of the status quo. 

I just hope it doesn't take too long to find the solution because the longer the delay the more the military personnel pay.