Now Patriot annoys the Russians...

[MKSheppard]

Link

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia could deploy its latest Iskander missiles close to Poland if plans to install U.S. Patriots on Polish soil go ahead, Interfax quoted a senior Russian officer as saying on Thursday.

Polish Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski told Reuters on Monday Warsaw wanted U.S. Patriot air defense missiles to be deployed this year regardless of whether President Barack Obama decided to press ahead with missile defense plans in Europe.

Moscow strongly opposes the missile shield proposed by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, which aims to place a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland. Russia says the shield is a threat to its security.

"Patriot systems, if they are deployed, will cover future work on installing a unit of the U.S. strategic air defense system with interceptor missiles in Poland," Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified member of Russia's general staff as saying.

He said Russia had proposed as a counter-measure "to deploy the tactical Iskander missile in the Kaliningrad region," which borders NATO member Poland, in response to deployment of the U.S. missile shield, Interfax reported.

"One cannot exclude that the issue of the Iskander will arise again," he added.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged last November to station surface-to-surface Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if the United States went ahead with its plans.

In February he said Moscow would not install Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if Washington refrained from deploying the missile shield.

Obama's administration is reviewing the missile shield project for cost effectiveness and viability, although he said during a visit to Prague last month that Washington would continue to research and develop the plans.

Poland has agreed to host interceptor missiles as part of the missile shield which Washington says is directed against Iran, not Russia. The West accuses Tehran of trying to build nuclear weapons, which it denies.

In return for Poland's consent to host the missile shield, Washington promised to help upgrade Polish air defenses with a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missiles, among other measures.

"Deploying Patriot systems in Poland is, to a certain extent, a response to Russia's objections to plans to install elements of the U.S. strategic missile defense in Europe," the Russian officer told Interfax.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

[Pelranius]

If Moscow is actually so butthurt about the whole business, perhaps they should deploy S-400s in Iran and Belarus.

[Stark]

So, the US installs defences in an ally, and Russia responds with internal redeployment.

So what?

[MKSheppard]

So what?

Stark fails at memory. Anyone remember the hullaboo over "lol we'll deploy SS-26 to Kalingrad if the US installs GBI in Eastern Europe?". Then when Obama cancels GBI in Europe, the SS-26 deployment is cancelled; only to resurface over the evil Patriot?

Hell, at this rate, lets just fucking bring back the BGM-109G GRYPHON and wallpaper NATO countries with them on mobile launchers.


BGM-109G Launch.

[Stark]

Yeah, how terrible; it's certainly awful that they're responding in a predictable fashion to what they see as aggression. I think it's a fucking lolgasm that you whine like a baby about this being unfair or something. Russians? Rattling their sabre? Over nuclear treaties? Say it ain't so!

Sorry I didn't mean to get in the way of your cut and paste action.

[MKSheppard]

Yeah, how terrible; it's certainly awful that they're responding in a predictable fashion to what they see as aggression.

Yeah, you fail in comprehension, and don't understand the difference between PAC-3 and GBI. One can only defend point targets, while the other is a continental defense system.

[Stark]

No. Really? Wow.

So... what? Are you really just cranky the Russians are doing what they always do? Dare I say 'realpolitik'? LOL.

It's pretty amusing that you could look at this from the other perspective if you were an impotent sabre-rattling Russian dickhead; the Russians forced America to back down over GBI but DAMMIT THEY SNUCK PATRIOTS IN INSTEAD HOW UNFAIR.

[K. A. Pital]

So who cares? Russia will press you and milk you for as many concessions about Eastern Europe as possible. Was that not clear? Also, Comrade Sheppard, you want the land cruise missiles to come back? We can assure you that we'll have our RK-55s ready.

[Beowulf]

Maybe Russia would have a leg to stand on if the Patriot batteries weren't proposed for placement in Poland before GBI there was cancelled. Or if the Patriot batteries weren't to defend against the Russkies (yes! explicitly against the Russkies!)

[Sea Skimmer]

Sounds like time to give Poland some of our surplus MLRS launchers, and access to our planned stockpile of a mere 43,000 GMLRS missiles. Those Iskander launchers may be mobile, but reality says they’ll be stuck in static garrisons 99% of the time, not like they have much space to hide in anyway with a half dozen NATO divisions rolling over the place on the way to reinforce the Baltic states.

[Kane Starkiller]

I don't think the Russians are upset about GBI or Patriot as individual systems but as symptoms of a much broader strategic alliance growing between Poland and US including modernizing Polish air force.
A new confrontation between Russia and US seems inevitable: Russia wants undisputed primacy in matters concerning the former Soviet Union and US wants to be able to deal with any country in the world without asking for permission from anyone. That is unlikely to change no matter how many times Obama and Medvedev shake hands and smile to the camera.
The lines are already being drawn: Belarus seems firmly in Russian camp while Baltic states, Poland and Czech Republic are with US. Jury is still out on Ukraine and maybe Georgia.

Looking at the outcome of the last confrontation between US and Russia (then the entire USSR), current power disparity between US and Russia and the fact that Eastern Europe switched sides the outcome of the next confrontation is pretty clear to both Poland and Russia. Therefore Russia needs to "overreact" to any deals between US and Poland to make it seem the risks are much higher than a rational analysis would suggests.