Russia issues new missile defence threat
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  1. #1
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member

    Russia issues new missile defence threat


    Russia's first deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov. Photograph: Frank Maechler/EPA


    Russia warned today that it would position its rockets close to the Polish border and point missiles at US bases in Europe if Washington rebuffed its latest offer of cooperation on missile defence.


    Russia's hawkish first deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, made it clear that Moscow would be forced "to respond" if the Bush administration snubbed Vladimir Putin's offer to work together on missile defence using a Soviet-era radar base.
    "If our proposal is not accepted we will take adequate measures. An asymmetrical and effective response will be found," he said. This response would include basing "new rocket forces in the European part of Russia" in the enclave of Kaliningrad, he said. The Russian missiles would be able to "parry the threats that will arise from the [US] missile defence system," he added.

    The Kremlin's latest warning comes after two days of meetings between Mr Putin and George Bush at the US president's seaside family retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine. Ahead of the talks the Pentagon had incensed Mr Putin by announcing plans to place elements of its missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr Putin has derided US claims that the system is aimed at dealing with rogue missiles fired by Iran and North Korea, saying it is actually aimed at Russia.


    Last month Mr Putin suggested the US scrap its existing plans and instead share a Soviet-era radar station in Azerbaijan. During talks this week he went further - offering to work with the US administration over missile defence within the framework of the Nato-Russia Council, and promising use of another early-warning system in southern Russia.

    Mr Bush's answer, however, was decidedly lukewarm. Although the president praised Mr Putin's offer as "innovative and strategic", he made it clear that Washington was likely to go ahead anyway with its missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. "As I told Vladimir, I think that the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of the system," Mr Bush said.

    Most experts now believe that Russia will take active military countermeasures. They include targeting the US's new defence bases in central Europe with Iskandar missiles based in Kaliningrad. Russia will also upgrade its nuclear missile arsenal, put more missiles on mobile launchers and move its fleet of nuclear submarines to the north pole, experts predict.

    Mr Putin - who is in Guatemala to hear the fate of Russia's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics - struck a conciliatory note today, describing US-Russian relations as "mutually satisfactory".

    "I am sure that, despite known disagreements, which are unavoidable in an open and honest dialogue, the policy of comprehensive development of bilateral ties in all areas will continue," he said.

    Mr Ivanov is, like his boss, a former KGB agent and he is a strong candidate to succeed Mr Putin as president next year. He said that if the Bush administration accepted Mr Putin's offer there would be no point in talking about a "new cold war".
    "You, journalists, will forget the term 'cold war' after that. It will just disappear. Ground for using it will just cease to exist," Mr Ivanov said at a news conference in Tashkent.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/art...8385%2C00.html



  2. #2
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member

    Russia gives Gazprom right to form armed units

    By Christian Lowe

    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament handed gas giant Gazprom the right to form its own armed units on Wednesday with a law one legislator said opened a "Pandora's box" that could lead to the creation of a private army.

    A law backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament gave Gazprom, and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, special exemption from strict limits on private businesses wielding arms.

    The two state-controlled companies will for the first time be allowed to employ their own armed operatives instead of contracting an outside security firm. Their armed units will also have access to more weapons and more freedom to use them than private security companies.

    Gazprom is already described by some observers as a state within a state: it has 430,000 employees, controls some of Russia's biggest media outlets, has a firm grip on gas exports and owns the country's third largest bank.

    "This law is like a Pandora's Box," said Gennady Gudkov, a lawmaker with the left-wing Fair Russia party who opposed the law on its third and final reading in the Duma.

    "Gazprom and Transneft are proposing the creation of their own corporate armies," he told the chamber.

    "If we pass this law we will all become the servants of Gazprom and Transneft. These companies seem to be following the maxim ... that what is good for them is good for Russia."

    BETTER PROTECTION

    Supporters of the law said it was needed to improve protection of oil and gas pipelines -- the economic lifeline for a Russian economy driven by revenue from energy exports -- from attacks by militants.

    Russia supplies almost a quarter of Europe's natural gas and is the world's No.2 exporter of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia.

    "A couple of terrorist acts and an ensuing ecological catastrophe would be enough to immediately declare Russia an unreliable partner and supplier of energy resources," said Alexander Gurov, one of the deputies who drafted the law.

    Gazprom's press service said in a statement sent to Reuters: "This law will allow us to increase the reliability of protection for Russia's unified gas supply system."

    Gazprom owns all trunk pipelines transporting natural gas across Russia and exporting it abroad. Transneft controls Russia's oil and oil product pipelines.

    The weapons that Gazprom and Transneft armed units will be allowed to carry under the new law are restricted to hand-guns and pump action shotguns. The law includes no restriction on the number of armed employees.

    They can be deployed only to protect infrastructure. But given both firms' have pipelines throughout the vast country, that would mean they could operate almost anywhere.

    One security analyst said it was already common practice for big companies to have their own armed security units, but their legal status was murky.

    "They (private armies) already exist to a certain extent so this is just sort of legalising it," said Pavel Felgenhauer.

    The law adopted on Wednesday must be approved by the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, and signed by President Vladimir Putin before it comes into force.

    Under the new law, the armed units of Gazprom and Transneft will have powers to use weapons similar to those enjoyed by interior ministry security guards.

    (Additional reporting by Tanya Mosolova)

    Reuters (IDS)
    http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/interna...=1183559860000



  3. #3
    Wonderful.


  4. #4
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    When the private armies fight us what how shall we label them when they are captured?

    Also what if the private armies unite or 'consolidate'?


  5. #5
    All good questions. I'd think the same way our own contractors would be labeled.

    Typical, though that the Russians would be doing this. With a declining birthrate and an even moreso declining population, they have to do something. Not the way to go, though..


  6. #6
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    Only under this president would the arms race continue to escalate with an attempt of negotiations. I can't make it up


  7. #7
    Yes, yes, it's all chimpybushhitlers fault the commies are a failed nationstate.

    I can't make this stuff up, either.


  8. #8
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    Quote Originally Posted by Sgt Leprechaun
    Yes, yes, it's all chimpybushhitlers fault the commies are a failed nationstate.

    I can't make this stuff up, either.
    The arms race escalation


  9. #9
    Ohhh, yeah. The left was all concerned, if I recall, about something like that during that "Cold War" thingie that went on.

    How did that turn out again?

    Pfaw.


  10. #10
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    Quote Originally Posted by Sgt Leprechaun
    Ohhh, yeah. The left was all concerned, if I recall, about something like that during that "Cold War" thingie that went on.

    How did that turn out again?

    Pfaw.
    Until recently, they were pretty quiet about 'guns'. Thanks to this admin, the next president will inherit more than just 'terrorists'


  11. #11
    Sgt. Leprechaun- It should be obvious by now that jetdawgg thinks ANY option other than conflict, is always better for America. He'd be thrilled if G.W. just bent over the table and let Putin stick it in, and break it off!
    At least that way, America wouldn't look like the "bad guy".
    drumcorpssnare


  12. #12
    LOL. I thought that was the French way!

    Whoo hoo!


  13. #13
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    Quote Originally Posted by drumcorpssnare
    Sgt. Leprechaun- It should be obvious by now that jetdawgg thinks ANY option other than conflict, is always better for America. He'd be thrilled if G.W. just bent over the table and let Putin stick it in, and break it off!
    At least that way, America wouldn't look like the "bad guy".
    drumcorpssnare
    I don't mind conflict, just have a plan to win.


  14. #14
    jetdawgg
    Guest Free Member
    KOSTROMA/KAPUSTIN YAR (Astrakhan Region), May 30 (RIA Novosti) - The commander of the Russian Ground Forces, Alexei Maslov, said Wednesday Russia has "a 21st century weapon," following two successful missile tests Tuesday.

    Earlier commenting on the tests - of a strategic RS-24 MIRV intercontinental missile launched from the north and a new version of the Iskander (SS-26), an advanced theater-level surface-to-surface missile in the south - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said, "Russians need not worry about defense: they can look confidently to the future."

    "We now have new [missile] systems at the strategic as well as theater level," Ivanov had said, adding that "these systems can beat any operational and future missile defenses," in a veiled reference to U.S. plans to place part of its missile shield in Central Europe, notably Poland and Czech Republic.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the U.S. plans at a Tuesday meeting with Jose Socrates, the premier of Portugal poised to take over as EU presidency on July 1.

    "We believe that attempts to turn Europe into a powder keg and to deploy new kinds of weapons are harmful and dangerous," Putin said.
    The RS-24 is a MIRVed version of the operational Topol-M (SS-25), carrying up to 10 independently targetable warheads.

    The R-500 is a new cruise missile adapted for the Iskander launcher previously used only with tactical ballistic missiles. With a range of up to 280 km (170 miles), a radar-evading trajectory and a hit error of no more than three meters, it can be effectively used against small targets, including separate missile launchers.

    http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070530/66322059.html


  15. #15
    Standard russian boilerplate. They always claim to have the latest/greatest most wonderful superweapons. Sometimes, granted, they are correct. Most of the time, they are not.

    Just like during the CW, the Russians have no desire to have us deploy things like MX, Pershing, etc, because they well know their own systems can't match ours.


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