Bush begs Russia to attack Europe

WARSAW and Washington have reached a preliminary deal on basing elements of a controversial US missile shield in Poland, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced today.

"We have reached a deal with the United States on the shield," after Washington agreed to meet Poland's key demand for defence aid separate from the anti-missile system, Mr Tusk told Polish news channel TVN.

Washington aims to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic by 2011-2013 to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.

The United States insists the plan is to ward off potential missile attacks by "rogue states," notably Iran, and is not directed against Russia.

The shield, however, has become a major source of tension with Moscow. It considers it a security threat designed to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent, and has vowed a firm response if the Czechs and Poles go ahead.

The matter is all the more sensitive because the Czech Republic and Poland were Soviet satellites until 1989, before transforming into staunch US allies when the communist bloc collapsed.

They joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. Moscow therefore feels threatened on its own doorstep.

While Prague signed a radar deal in July, Washington's talks with Warsaw have been grinding on for 15 months.

Amid concerns about the potential risks - not specifically from Russia - of hosting the silos, Poland has persistently pressed the United States to provide a Patriot missile air-defence system.

"Our key demand, the presence of Patriots, has been accepted by the Americans," Mr Tusk said.

"I'm still talking about a preliminary deal," he said.

"We would start with a battery under US command, but made available to the Polish army. Then there would be a second phase, involving equipping the Polish army with missiles."

Mr Tusk said that the United States had also "committed to close cooperation with Poland in the event of a danger from a third party".

Overnight, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Warsaw was looking for a "kind of reinforcement of Article Five" of the treaty binding NATO's 26 nations.

The article says an attack against one member is an attack against the entire alliance.

Poland, US reach missile shield deal

From correspondents in Warsaw | August 15, 2008

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C24184574-12377%2C00.html

Athugasemdir

[Baldur Fjölnisson, 15.8.2008 kl. 08:19]

24/01/2008 | Moscow News,№03 2008

Top Brass Defends Russia's Right to Preemptive Strike

Russia underlined its right to a "preventive" nuclear strike this week in what military analysts interpreted as a move to introduce more clarity into the nation's defense doctrine. The statements, made by Chief of General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky on Saturday, were followed by naval exercises in the northern Atlantic that will feature over 40 aircraft of the Air Force. Though unrelated, the developments pointed to a Russia not so much on the offensive as a one that was eager to bring its defense doctrine in line with that of the Western world and make it more up to date with contemporary military demands. LATEST NEWS U.S., Poland sign missile defense deal 09:50 15/08/2008 |The United States and Poland signed a deal to deploy missiles as part of a U.S. defense shield in the ex-Communist-bloc country amid a military crisis in Georgia. Second Olympic bronze for Russia's Vyatchanin in backstroke 09:17 15/08/2008 |Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin claimed his second medal of the Olympic games when he took bronze in the 200m backstroke final in Beijing on Friday. S.Ossetia, Abkhazia to seek sovereignty under international law 19:33 14/08/2008 |South Ossetia and Abkhazia will seek independence from Tbilisi under international law, the leaders of Georgia's two rebel regions said Thursday at a joint news conference in Moscow. Russian military concerned by U.S. cargo flights to Georgia 19:18 14/08/2008 |Russia's General Staff said Thursday it was concerned by the nature of cargoes the United States was airlifting to Georgia, questioning if they were really humanitarian aid. more news "We are not planning to attack anyone. But our partners should clearly understand... that the armed forces will be used if necessary to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and its allies, including on a preventative basis, including with the use of nuclear weapons," RIA Novosti quoted Baluyevsky as saying Saturday at a scientific conference in Moscow. He underlined, however, that "military force can and must be used to demonstrate the decisiveness of the top leadership of the country" only as "a last resort" and when all other methods have failed. "This is the clarification of the nuclear doctrine," Sergei Karaganov, a defense expert and the dean of the International Politics Department at the Higher School of Economics, told The Moscow News. "What [Baluyev­sky] means is the enhanced deterrence doctrine, which was created in the United States" and used by NATO for decades. And while Karaganov believes the statements might be interpreted more aggressively in the West, they are mostly meant to have a psychological impact. "We have adopted the concept of preemption," he says, noting that it was previously not part of Russia's nuclear doctrine. General Gennady Yevstafyev, a former military intelligence officer, believes that though General Ba­luyevsky made some very important and necessary clarifications, there is nothing "extraordinary" about the statements. They are in line with the doctrine President Vladimir Putin began spelling out in 2000, which announced Russia's readiness to use nuclear weapons for the defense of itself and its allies. Yevstafyev pointed out, however, that Baluyevsky's comments should be understood in a context that includes some of the other statements made at the conference. "Soon we will not be able to maintain missile defense," Yevstafyev told The Moscow News, echoing Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, who told a conference at the Academy of Military Sciences in Moscow that over the next 12 years foreign powers will "obtain fundamentally new means and systems" and integrate intelligence, communications and navigation, leaving almost all of Russia's territory vulnerable. "Under these conditions a potential enemy will gain the ability to carry out high-precision strikes, coordinated in terms of time and space, on practically any target on Russian territory," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying. As for Baluyevsky's statements themselves, experts doubt they will have any serious impact on relations between Russia and NATO. "This is not news for NATO," Karaganov said. "As for our allies, we will see who's ready to join our nuclear umbrella." Asked what potential allies might benefit from this kind of protection, Karaganov pointed to countries in Asia. The statements came against a backdrop of the biggest military exercises staged in the Atlantic since the end of the Cold War as warships and nuclear bombers successfully test fired supersonic cruise missiles close to the Iberian Peninsula. The Moskva missile cruiser of the Russian Black Sea Fleet staged a successful live fire exercise, while 40 aircraft, including Tu-160 Blackjacks are set to take part. Col. Gen. Yuri Soloviev, meanwhile, announced this week that the Moscow Region would have a second unit operating a S-400 Triumph zenith anti-missile system by the end of the year. By Anna Arutunyan http://www.mnweekly.ru/news/20080124/55305669.html

[Jón Aðalsteinn Jónsson, 15.8.2008 kl. 22:30]

Ég er farin að grafa mér byrgi

[Baldur Fjölnisson, 18.8.2008 kl. 19:43]

Heimsstyrjaldir byrja (formlega) á haustin. Það hefur náttúrlega verið praktískt áður fyrr að klára uppskeruna að mestu áður en vinnuaflið var sett í manndrápin. Núna er ekki um slíkt að ræða þar sem sárafáir starfa við landbúnað og flestum hefur verið hrúgað inn í borgir þar sem þeir prenta skuldapappíra og þjóna undir rassgatið hver á öðrum. Þetta er afar viðkvæmt fyrirkomulag og má lítið út af bera bæði efnahagslega og pólitískt. Núna eru aðallega tveir risakraftar sem toga okkur í átt til stórstyrjaldar. 1. Almennur skilningur á því að hollywoodsjóið 11. sept. 2001 var innanbúðarverk og atburðarásin sem af því leiddi var því byggð á algjörlega fölskum og upplognum forsendum sem aftur þýðir að nauðsynlegt er að lífláta/fangelsa megnið af valdaelítu vesturlanda. Þar sem flestir vilja víst í lengstu lög forðast að verða líflátnir má búast við því tröllvaxnari smjörklípum sem þeir eru valdameiri. Þegar um viðurkennda síkópata er að ræða verður það því augljósara. 2. Alþjóðlegt fjármálakerfi sem er á brauðfótum og riðar alvarlega til falls. Við það má síðan bæta öðrum krísum svo sem massaútrýmingu tegunda og umhverfiskatastrófu og endalokum ódýrrar og auðveldrar orku. Allt snýst það um óhefta græðgi og yfirgang og tengist aftur 1. að því leyti.