Russia Threatens U.S. Over Missile Deal

Moscow Warns That Response To Missile Defense Pact With Poland Will Go Beyond Diplomacy

(CBS/ AP)  The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia - a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response.

For many Poles - whose country has been a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq and Afghanistan - the accord represented what they believed would be a guarantee of safety for themselves in the face of a newly assertive Russia.

Negotiators sealed the deal last week against a backdrop of Russian military action in Georgia, a former Soviet republic turned U.S. ally, that has worried former Soviet satellites across eastern Europe. It prompted Moscow's sharpest rhetoric yet over the system, which it contends is aimed at Russia despite Washington's insistence the site is purely defensive.

After Wednesday's signing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed any suggestion the 10 missile defense interceptors - which Washington says are intended to defend Europe and the U.S. from the possible threat of long-distance missiles from Iran - represent a threat to Russia.

"Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one," Rice said. "It is in our defense that we do this."

She denounced an earlier threat from a Russian general to target NATO member Poland, possibly even with nuclear weapons, for accepting the facility.

Such comments "border on the bizarre, frankly," Rice told reporters in Warsaw. "The Russians are losing their credibility," she said, adding that Moscow would pay a price for its actions in Georgia, though she did not specify how.

"It's also the case that when you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice said. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."

Hours after the signing, Russia's Foreign Ministry warned that Moscow's response would go beyond diplomacy. The system to be based in Poland lacks "any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles," it said in a statement, contending the U.S. system "will be broadened and modernized."

"In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic" channels, it said without elaborating.

Michael Mandelbaum, a foreign policy expert at Johns Hopkins University, told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin that placing missile defenses so close to its territory is a red line for Russia.

"No deployment of ballistic missile defense systems in their neighborhoods, at least not without their cooperation," Mandelbaum said.

Another red line: the two former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia must not be allowed to join the NATO alliance, Martin adds.

"The Russian attitude is when we had a good reputation, we were pushed around by the West so maybe an edgy reputation, in the Russian view, isn't such a bad thing," Mandelbaum said.

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington criticized the deal, saying the U.S. missile interceptors are technologically unproven and will only confirm Russian suspicions the system is directed against Moscow and not at Iran.

The deal follows an earlier agreement to place the second component of the missile defense shield - a radar tracking system - in the neighboring Czech Republic, another formerly communist country now in NATO.

"We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Rice after the signing.

Many Poles agreed. "After what happened in Georgia, I believe that this is good protection for us," said Kazimierz Dziuba, 49, a hospital worker in Warsaw.

The Georgian conflict "made the Americans agree to this deal sooner because the Russians are getting too bossy," Dziuba said.

Not all Poles were happy, however.

Alina Kesek, an 82-year-old retired office clerk who lived through World War II, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them, and then experienced four decades of Moscow-dominated communist rule, said the Patriot missiles were a "kind of provocation" toward Russia.

"This means a threat from the Russian side," said Kesek. "I am not very pleased with this deal."

Some residents in the northern Polish town of Redzikowo, where the missile defense facility will be located, fear it may expose them to retaliatory attacks or other dangers.

Along with the main deal, the two nations signed a so-called "declaration on strategic cooperation," which is to deepen their military and political partnership.

It includes a mutual commitment to come to each other's assistance immediately if one is under attack - enhancing existing obligations both have as NATO members.

The declaration also was accompanied by a promise from the U.S. to help modernize Poland's armed forces and to place a battery of Patriot missiles there by 2012.

Rice said the deal "will help both the alliance and Poland and the United States respond to the coming threats."

Poland and the United States spent a year and a half in formal talks, which snagged in the final phase on Poland's demands for the Patriot missiles and other points.

However, the deepening U.S.-Polish friendship dominated Wednesday's proceedings.

"In troubled times the most important thing is to have friends," Rice said. "But it is more important to have friends who share your values and your aspirations and your dreams. And Poland and the United States are those kind of friends."

Approval for the missile defense sites is still needed from the Czech and Polish parliaments. No date has been set for lawmakers in Warsaw to vote, but the deal enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as of the government.

[tbweb]

tbweb....Your 40 years in the past with that thinking. You need to come up to speed and get your head out of the sand. The US is 10 Trillion dollars in DEBT.

Posted by cew23 at 11:54 AM : Aug 22, 2008,,,

It`s all relative, the U.S. will manage this debt, the key will be not to increase it further.

[tbweb]

President Saakashvili invaded the de facto independent provinces and committed murder of innocent people in his surprise attack....that''''s a big ''''so what'''' to you. He should be tried in a court of law for this. The US protects him in the news and only talks about what Russia did.....well Saakashvili started it and broke their treaty.

Posted by cew23 at 08:42 PM : Aug 22, 2008,,,

A nation can`t invade it`s own territory! Even if President Saakashvili was wrong, his actions were still inside Georgia`s U.N. recognized borders and recognized by the U.N. as Georgian territory, those are the `official facts` like it or not! In the context of international Law and international rules of engagement Russia is the invader and clearly in the wrong even though President Saakashvili may have been wrong as well! 2 wrongs don`t make a right!

[tbweb]

As a matter of fact, I believe an international disarmament plan must be inacted to end all WMD''''s no matter who possesses them. An international police force must be formed for a united planet which in the end will be the only salvation for us all.

Posted by nrgmizer at 03:46 PM : Aug 22, 2008,,,

An international Police force will only work when every nation dissolves and takes down its flag and live under one flag, but dream on. The U.N. is proof it won`t work! Does the current international U.N. work? No!

[tbweb]

This war with Iran is costing us 2 billion a week of borrowed money.

Posted by cew23 at 11:54 AM : Aug 22, 2008,,,

We are not at war with Iran!

[cew23]

President Saakashvili invaded the de facto independent provinces and committed murder of innocent people in his surprise attack....that''s a big ''so what'' to you. He should be tried in a court of law for this. The US protects him in the news and only talks about what Russia did.....well Saakashvili started it and broke their treaty.

[cew23]

If you want to see some good and truthful videos on what is going on, go to YOU TUBE and watch ZEITGEIST.

[cew23]

tbweb....Your 40 years in the past with that thinking. You need to come up to speed and get your head out of the sand. The US is 10 Trillion dollars in DEBT. All the tax money goes to the mega bankers to pay down the debt, not into the US. Every 22 cents of every US dollar goes to other countries to repay loans. So, our dollar is only worth 78 cents.
We are financially going off a cliff. We import more than we export which is a horrible situation for a country to be in. We chased industry out of this country. This war with Iran is costing us 2 billion a week of borrowed money.

[tbweb]

You must believe that the US is the US of 15 years ago (strong, smart, and noble) ...

Posted by Insurgeon at 04:46 PM : Aug 21, 2008,,,

You are talking out the side of your neck, the U.S. is not broke, Exxon made $12 Billion in one quarter, the highest profit by a company in U.S. History! Apple Computer is blowing away the competition with the iPhone and iPod not to mention the Mac! THe U.S. is fine, it just needs to reduce spending and direct money back into the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. does not have a money problem, the U.S. has a spending problem which placed under proper controls can turn things around quickly. Even Iraq is purchasing Billions of dollars in U.S. Military equipment now and that shot in the arm will put funds back into the U.S. Treasury, also the U.S. is collecting `record` Tax Revenues, its the spending thats the problem. Finally, the U.S. military can defeat anyone, there are some questions about a victory where no one is left to enjoy it going up against a Russia or China but the U.S. can easily win in Afghanistan and Iraq, the problem is the World won`t like how the U.S. does it! U.S. adversaries have a chance at victory because the U.S. value system makes the U.S. fight by outdated rules that if eliminated would see different battle field results, and very quickly I might add! The U.S. has the firepower to win if it had the political will to go there!

[toldyouso12]

Of course this is aimed at Russia--not only in containing it, but under the right leader--conducting offense if necessary against it--America could not have gotten a better invitation than the Polish okay--but the problem is, like in Georgia--what Washington promises to do and what it can actually do are 2 different things. Russia is not Iraq--we have to consider that if the Russians are not bluffing, any retaliation against an attack of Poland might finally bring us the doomsday scenario we think keeps others from calling our bluffs.

[underdogus87]

VETERANS SAY THEY NEED HELP...BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. 300,000 TROOPS SUFFER PTSD SYMPTOMS

This story from Veterans for Common Sense http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10958