Poland Invasion Next? Nukes In Cuba? - Russia Says Response To Missile Shield Deal “Will Go Beyond Diplomacy”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski sign a missile shield deal in Warsaw August 20, 2008.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia says its response to the further development of a U.S. missile shield in Poland will go beyond diplomacy.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia.
The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran.
The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia’s westernmost fringe.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw’s hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia’s westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.
Such comments “border on the bizarre frankly,” Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.
“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.”
The deal, which Washington sought as a way of defending the U.S. and Europe from a hypothetical threat of long-distance missiles from Iran, has strained relations between Moscow and the West. Those ties were already troubled by Russia’s invasion of its former Soviet neighbor, U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters traveling with her, Rice said, “the Russians are losing their credibility.”
Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski signed the deal Wednesday morning.
“It is an agreement which will help us to respond to the threats of the 21st century,” she said afterward.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the agreement came after tough but friendly negotiations.
“We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure,” he said.
After Warsaw and Washington announced the agreement on the deal last week, top Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the American missile defense system, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
Poles have been shaken by the threats, but NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop dismissed them Tuesday as “pathetic rhetoric.”
“It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere,” he told reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
Many Poles consider the agreement a form of protection at a time when Russia’s invasion of Georgia has generated alarm throughout Eastern Europe. Poland is a member of the European Union and NATO, and the deal is expected to deepen its military partnership with Washington.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski also expressed “great satisfaction” at the outcome of the long months of negotiations.
Poland and the United States spent a year and a half negotiating, and talks recently had snagged on Poland’s demands that the U.S. bolster Polish security with Patriot missiles in exchange for hosting the missile defense base.
Washington agreed to do so last week, as Poland invoked the Georgia conflict to strengthen its case.
The Patriots are meant to protect Poland from short-range missiles from neighbors—such as Russia.
The U.S. already has reached an agreement with the government in Prague to place the second component of the missile defense shield—a radar tracking system—in the Czech Republic, Poland’s southwestern neighbor and another formerly communist country.
Approval is still needed the Czech and Polish parliaments.
No date has been set for the Polish parliament to consider the agreement, but it should face no difficulties in Warsaw, where it enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as the government.
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Only the School yard bully gets angry when their victums gather together to defend themselves.
But the Closet Soviets in the Kremlin are more than simple school yard bullies.
They are genocidal maniacs seeking to rebuild their Soviet empire right in front of the entire world looking on in abject horror and fear.
Only the sickest of minds could envision and relish the prospect of attacking any non nuclear country with nuclear weapons all because they seek to protect themselves from the Iranian religious monster - zelot the Kremlin has armed with the means to develop nuclear weapons in the first place.
This is not a case of dumb and dumber its a clear case of SICK and SICKER !!!!!!!!!!!!
All of Euorpe would be wise to wean themselves off of Russian oil and natural gas.
Throw the closet Soviets out of the G - 8 .
Restore the IRON CURTAIN.
Put Radio Free Europe back on to the air waves.
And finally tell them they can not come out of the dog house until they throw out the Closet Soviet Vampires from the Kremlin and behaive themselves in a friendly, decent and neighborly manner .
eddie p.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:39 amThose Poles are some tough sons of bitches, this time they won’t be taking horse cavalry up against tanks though…..
Poland won’t be intimidated over US missiles: president
WARSAW (AFP) — In a clear swipe at Russia, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski on Tuesday said his country would not give in to threats over its deal with Washington to deploy US missile silos on Polish soil.
“No-one can dictate to Poland what it should do. That’s in the past,” Kaczynski said in a live prime-time television address ahead of Wednesday’s signing of the accord with the United States.
“Our neighbours should now understand that our nation will never give in, nor allow itself to be intimidated,” Kaczynski said, in the wake of Russian threats to target Poland in retaliation for hosting a US base.
Kaczynski did not name Russia directly in his speech, but his mention of the “past” was a clear reference to Poland’s decades as a Soviet satellite state.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:54 amA big Salute too!! Condoleezza Rice , i stand and Applaud!
But i fear the Dem’s will stand in the Way!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:04 amI hope Condoleezza is Rice is right about defending Poland. Because remember this in Sep 1939, England and France declared War against Germany. But they did almost absolutely nothing to support Poland or went on the Offensive on Germany Western borders! If England and France did went on the offensive on Germany western borders Hitler could not stop it since the bulk of his military was in Poland! No! What England and France did was sat on their butts hoping they might be able to cut a deal for another false Peace! That period was called the “Phony War” and it lasted until Hitlers armies regroup and resupply then on May of 1940 Germany military might went on a rampage that almost took over Europe and nearly destroyed England by bombing it!
We have better start building our manpower back up and keep our word on defending our Allies!
No More 1938s PEACE IN OUR TIME APPEASERS CRAP EVER AGAIN!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:48 amhow long until the world wakes up?
August 20th, 2008 at 11:50 amPutin knows the US military is spread thin right now… I sure hope this is just bluster but I’m not counting on it.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:02 pmYeah ask Georgia if Russia is just blustering. Im sure they will tell you another story.
I have to wonder why the hell we need a missile shield against Iran in the first place. do we plan on letting them get a nuclear warhead that could then be put onto a missile? or is it really another deterrent that we’ll have against Russia? if it is about Russia then we better be ready to defend Poland over this decision.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pmSomewhere in the OT God said “I will compel the king of the uttermost north to come against My land,” or something to that effect. What I remember was that there’s only one country that qualifies as “uttermost north,” and that’s Russia.
I know this is speculative “armchair prophesying,” but I wonder if God put a bug in Putin’s ear to cue Russia for her turn on God’s end-time stage?
August 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pm“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.”
Can we bomb them, now?
August 20th, 2008 at 1:32 pmonce Margaret Thatcher noted that russia is just like the Upper Volta with nuclear capability…she was dead on … im trying to desypher whats the goal of all this, this edginess, the spread of control… the ideology??? - russians are either too well fed or (in a majority) too fucking starving to really give a fuck. this complex of an adolescencent is fucking boring, during the ussr it was about the global revolution, whats the story now, just mere control of the local populus? if russia wants to become an attractive state they need to improve their economy and society. in a way, to put it in a Freuds perspective, russia acts like a deranged ex-husband that is jealous of his ex-wife(s) new “acquaitances” …actually it was some russian official who stated this position on live TV…Freud was right…no wonder they were pulling those mobile dick shaped ICBMs during the parade - kinda like a compensation for some other “shortcomings”
August 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pmThe Russians are talking smack. Unlike Georgia, the Russians have nothing to gain from attacking, much less invading, Poland.
Come get some, Putin. We’re implementing this treaty.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:08 pmLike all bullies, Russia is trying to overcompensate for a deep-seated inferiority complex. By picking on their smaller neighbors, the Russians can now feel better about themselves after suffering the long, bitter humiliation of losing the Cold War. Beneath the surface of Russia’s cold geopolitical calculus, there runs an ocean of visceral hatred towards the US and its allies, who serve as a daily reminder of the demise of the late, “great” Soviet Union.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:57 pm“…whats the goal of all this, this edginess, the spread of control… the ideology??? ”
Oligarchy.
Democracy and even Communism is difficult and they’ve decided to drop all pretense about ‘caring’ for either their own people or others.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:45 pmNow it’s just a power and money grab.
“…the United States has a … firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland’s territory as if it was the territory of the United States.”
Condi’s not mincing words. Bravo! One day, she will get the credit that’s due for her recent refusal to back down to Russian threats and intimidations.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:35 pm