Obama will travel to Russia on July 6 for meetings with President Dmitri Medvedev. The primary purpose of the meetings is to attempt to reduce nuclear weapons on both sides.
Today the US has about 5,500 nuclear warheads while Russia has about 3,900 of their own. Russia has said they were willing to reduce to a level of about 1,000.
There are two major sticking points though to negotiations. The first is US and NATO military expansion eastward which has resulted in the current surrounding of Russia. In recent years the Pentagon has built military bases in Romania and Bulgaria and will soon be adding more in Albania. NATO has expanded into Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia right on Russia’s border. The US next wants to bring the Ukraine and Georgia (both also bordering Russia) into the NATO military alliance.
On top of all that, the proposed Bush deployments, which Obama has yet to reject, of "missile defense" interceptors in Poland and a Star Wars radar facility in the Czech Republic only makes Russia more fearful of US intentions.
So with all that in mind can you imagine the sheer lunacy of Obama' s Secretary of War Robert Gates, in the video above, suggesting that we put a Star Wars radar facility in Russia? Oh joy, I'm sure Russia will be thrilled with this notion!?
Of course Russia rejected the idea as they well should. But it's an early indication at the bizarre negotiating position the US is taking at this point. You want to have successful nuclear disarmament negotiations with Russia? Surround them and then suggest they let you put a radar inside their territory so it will be easier to hit them in a first-strike attack.
That's change we can believe in!
Bang-zoom, to the moon!
No comments:
Post a Comment