Making Sense of Missile Defense

Stories we're following today:

Missile Sense - New York Times Editorial [link]

• President Obama made a sound strategic decision, scrapping former President George W. Bush’s technologically dubious plan to build a long-range missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
• The new system addresses the first two problems. The technology exists and can be deployed much sooner than the Bush system. And it is intended to counter a more immediate danger: Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles that could threaten Europe or Israel.

NATO Wants to Link Missile-Defense Shield With Russia - Wall Street Jounral [link]

• Calling for greater realism on all sides, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he wanted to see a fresh start in relations between NATO and Russia.
• "We should explore the potential for linking the U.S., NATO and Russian missile-defense systems at an appropriate time. I believe the work we have already done … including joint exercises, clearly demonstrates the potential for cooperation in this area."
• Mr. Fogh Rasmussen stressed that he didn't see the administration of President Barack Obama as scrapping missile defense in Europe, but making it more realistic and inviting greater involvement of NATO allies.

Indefensible: Fox Cuts Arms Control Expert Short, but he Schools Bolton Anyway - Daily Kos [link]

 What a Revamped U.S. Missile Shield Might Look Like - Danger Room [link]

• Details are now emerging on the Obama administration’s plans to revamp missile defense to better counter the emerging Iranian missile threat.
• Intriguingly, the new plan might include deploying an X-band radar to the Caucasus to keep an eye out for missile launches from Iran.

A First Take on Obama's Missile Defense Rethink - Amb. Thomas Pickering in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• The missile defense writ large hasn't suffered a radical setback, just a sensitive rationalization.
• It also seems clear, however, that the Obama administration will at least continue to look seriously at the possibility of missile defense, focusing less on a frenetic commitment to early deployment and more on bringing it to its full technical capability.
• Note: The Bulletin has a list of recent missile defense articles, if you want to read back into the issue.

North Korea Willing to Re-enter Nuclear Disarmament Talks - The Guardian [link]

• North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has said he is willing to engage in multilateral talks, Chinese state media reported today, in what appeared to be a conciliatory shift that could pave the way for the reopening of disarmament negotiations.

A View from the Dark Side (???)

Obama Made the Right Decision on Missile Defense - Tom Nichols in THE NATIONAL REVIEW [link]

• Despite the outcry that President Obama has sold out the Europeans and caved to the Russians by cancelling missile defenses in Europe, it was the right thing to do. Those defenses were not going to work (or work well enough or soon enough to matter in any major crisis with Iran), and the diplomatic price we were paying for them was far out of proportion to any small gains we might have made by annoying the Russians or reassuring the Czechs and the Poles.