Bush Says Missile Defense ‘Urgent’ In Europe
Washington - US President George W Bush said Tuesday there was an “urgent” need to deploy a missile-defence system to Eastern Europe because of Iran’s growing ballistic missile capability. “Iran is pursuing the technology that could be used to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles of increasing range that could deliver them,” Bush said.”The need for missile defence in Europe is real, and I believe it’s urgent,” Bush said in a speech at the National Defence University in Washington.
Bush has aggressively pursued a long-range ballistic-missile- defence system. His administration announced plans earlier this year to deploy 10 missile interceptors to Poland and a radar tracking site to the Czech Republic.
The controversial plans have angered Moscow, which views the system as a threat to its nuclear deterrent and has not ruled out targeting the potential bases in Eastern Europe.
Bush cited US intelligence that Iran could have a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe by 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin has played down the Iranian threat and has questioned western claims that the Islamic state is developing nuclear weapons.
Putin has proposed using a Soviet era radar site in Azerbaijan and a facility in southern Russia. Bush is open to the offer but not as a substitute for the Czech and Polish locations. Instead he sees it as an opportunity for the two sides to work together against a common threat.
“We believe these sites could be included as part of a wider threat monitoring system that could lead to an unprecedented level of strategic cooperation between our two countries,” Bush said.
Bush said the Eastern European sites are too small to endanger Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal.
“The missile defences we will deploy are intended to deter countries who would threaten us with ballistic missiles,” Bush said. “We do not consider Russia such a country.”
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in Prague for talks with Czech leaders about the plans, said Washington is open to allowing a Russian presence at the bases to ease Moscow’s opposition. He also said the United States would consider building the system but not activate it until “concrete proof” of a threat emerged.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proposed the idea earlier this month at a meeting in Moscow attended by Gates and their Russian counterparts.
Gates was speaking at a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who reacted coolly to the idea of allowing the Russian military to return to his country. US officials hope to have negotiations soon completed with Poland and the Czech Republic in time to have the system in place by 2013.
© 2007 Earth Times
One wonders why no one asks if the missle defence would work against Yankee missles… I’d love to see someone ask bushy that sort of question.
The only thing that’s urgent is getting bush and his gang of thieves and liars out of the White House!
Bush is the best thing for the wartime economy since WWII. The problem is that we, ourselves, are now the aggressor nation.
missile defense for Europe is not “urgent”
global warming is “urgent”
defending our Constitution is “urgent”
affordable health care for all is “urgent”
restoring government of, for & by the people is “urgent”
more fear mongering. after the iraq lies, will the american public buy it again?…… OF COURSE!
Have we found Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction yet?
Considering that Israel, India, Pakistan and some EU countries already have nuke missiles…whats the hurry?
This will just serve as a missile shield for the EU/USA after Bush starts WWIII
Go to hell, Bush. Putin and China are runing way ahead of you, you ex-drunk. Did you cheat your way throgh Harvard Business School? You obviously learned nothing as the USA is facing financial collapse, not to speak of World War. And this will not be WW III. It will be WW LAST as this idiot starts the destruction of civilization.
Jess: There is no way Bu$h completed a real academic MBA… This nitwit displays an irrationality, emotional maturity and mental instability of a 14 year old.. I wonder with a minimal vocabulary of 6,500; indicating an IQ of 93, how in hopping hell did he get into Harvard in the first place.. My thought is like everything else in this idiots resume it was and is a sham…
Bu$h has transcended “dangerous,” and seems to be moving way past “apocalyptic.” Where the hell are the democrats? Is the only metaphor left to us some sort of obscenity about Pelosi, Bush, Cheney and what they are doing to all of us? “We’re biding our time,” was one phrase I heard a few weeks ago. Time until they can slop at the trough of an imperial presidency with Lady Hillary? Just another obscenity.
In every sentence of the above article, the word “said” needs to be replaced by the word “lied”:-
”The need for missile defence in Europe is real, and I believe it’s urgent,” Bush lied in a speech at the National Defence University in Washington.
Iran has never attacked nor threatened to attack any country. Iran has complied with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to the letter. The IAEA has all but cleared Iran of any improper nuclear activity. The same cannot be said of Israel or the USA.
Bush is making it impossible to tell the difference between his pronouncements and those of The Onion or of Jon Stewart trying to parody him. It is not funny anymore, George.
The important thing isnt to dwell on the ridiculousness of his lies, it is to inteerrpret from this what the REAL intentions of this madman might be!
The world’s only possible target is the Beltway.
Missile bases are urgently because Iran has to be invaded before Iran has a stronger defense. The United States of Israel is careful only to invade a country after the country is confirmed to be relatively defenseless. The USI is very right to be afraid of Iran. Apparently Iran is made up of similar human beings as in the USI, and the USI is filled with such self knowledge and insight as to know that all other human beings are at least ten times as evil as they are.
Also missile bases are required to threaten or attack Europe, Russia, China or any country that gets a silly idea that the United States of Israel should not be messing around with their land, people and business, just because most of the United States of Israel lives on a continent on the other side of the globe. The question is , what hold does the USI have over countries that do allow USI “defense” and missile base sites.
Is the cure worse than the disease? Missile bases are required urgently to kill off several billions of excess human beings from the planet, since that is the only sensible solution that will ameliorate climate change and allow Nature to recover unmolested by gross exploitation. To be fair, the USI should allow Europe, Russia and China to build missile bases on the American Continent. Then we can all press the launch buttons together in totally shared hatred.
Didn’t good ‘ol Ronnie Reagan already put MX missiles in Germany in 1980’s?
And, if Europe is under threat, why don’t we let them decide who they’re afraid of and when and what to do about it? Are we suddenly tasked with defending the whole world from the whole rest of the world?
What is he snorting?
Headline, D.C.: Bush says Sky Is Falling… asks Congress for another $200 Billion to fix it… gets $200 Billion because no one in Congress wants to be accused of letting the sky fall on our troops… but after spending $200 billion the SKY IS STILL FALLING… asks Congress for another $200 billion to finish the job… gets its because no one in Congress wants to be accused of only half-way not letting the sky fall on our troops… but after spending $200 billion MORE, the SKY IS STILL FALLING!!!!! (5 exclamation marks and an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor” to Osama Bin Laden later)… so Bush asks Congress to just put the U.S. Mints under the executive branch so he can print as much money as he wants… gets it because no one in Congress wants to be accused of being on Osama Bin Laden’s side… ad nauseum…
Thank God for the PKK
Jess, you said that b$ush is an ex-drunk. Have YOU SEEN HIM LATELY—PUFFY EYES AND FACE. I’m thinking this man is on the sauce again and it’s showing……….
Just seems like a day, hmmm. BushCo requires new sites because he has seriously pissed off Turkey. Air bases, military bases, Incerlik alone if closed would prevent aircraft takeoff and landings in an area that is strategically positioned to get in and out wherever BushCo feels they are in dire need of population growth control. Turkey will close all bases, make Turkey a no-fly zone and they do happen to have the 2nd largest miltary force in NATO.
BushCo invades countries illegally, by deceit and outright friggin’ lies and the PKK has murdered 37,000 Turks since’86 and another 30 in 2 1/2 weeks plus hostages, and the US of A says’ do not protect your borders, do not protect your citizens, believe it because, just because. MSM today were beyond their normal mimictry, ‘Turkey Ready to Invade Iraq any Minute!’. I had just finished reading earlier in the 3 am’ish time, the Turkish Digest Headlines, from Hurriyet Millyet, and other reliable Turkish papers that they felt they were putting the Turkish citizen’s in a more secure state, than attacking at will and risking the chance of all out war.
Turkey is going to say ‘Allahaismarladik’, BushCo. Free at last, free at last..
too many typos, been awake for 2 days, pardon….
DICK Cheney, licks is thumb, and turns the page of the PNAC manual.
Page 7: Iran is the enemy. Iran has lots of oil. Imperial America deserves the right to go get that oil. Determine methods to secure that oil. See previous pages on how you got the Iraqi oil. Follow that formula again.
If a need to demonize the Iranian’s is required; send your spokes people to the MSM and begin to show lots of Islamic Fanatics in pajama’s kicking the air, and jumping out of holes in the ground, all with ski masks on, and show lots of Osama video, lots.
Tell them its nothing personal. Tell them its just business, and what’s good for business, is good for America.
God Bless America
He is such a lying sack of shit…really, what does it take to get these criminals behind bars where they belong??
As ever, ‘The Burning Bush’ is correct in everything he says and thinks, - he got his latest Iranian orders ’straight from the horse’s mouth’ (God was too busy welcoming in newly murdered Iraqis last week to pay Bush much heed).
All I ask now is that Burning Bush holds his breath until we can all get over there to thank him in person for all he has done for humanity…
-might be a bit of a long wait though.
[For Cee]: a quote by Helen Keller :::
“It’s wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.”
And as to the bogus ‘Christain’ Bush and his killer crew, an old Spanish saying: “Where God has his church the Devil will have his chapel.”
If Burning Bush is a Christian in any shape or form then I’m Captain Kirk’s brassiere. This sick git proves daily that he is nothing less than an agent of Diablo, and as such, needs burying under a mountain somewhere *very* remote so he can’t harm another living thing on this planet.
Better yet, obliteration on Saturn may be the very thing.
Gullible people may want to believe that so called leaders have the power to shape destiny. Not so, this is karma. The events that are unfolding now are inevitable and it is not too hard to reckon the eventual outcome.
Someone please kill this evil, monstrous…thing.
Please.
“Quantifying Chomsky: Probability of Nuclear Weapons being used against Europe is 0.00000004%”
http://www.chycho.com/?q=chomsky_europe
“If we assume that the probability of North Korea attacking Europe with nuclear weapons is that of Iran, then United States tax payers are spending billions of dollars and starting a second cold war, with potentially terminal consequences, based on a probability of 0.00000004% (2 divided by 5 billion). Considering how the US economy is doing, one would think that Americans could find a better way to spend their money.”
A missile defense is only urgent to raise Lockheed, Raytheon and other war profiteers stock and to help Israel rule the Middle East. BushCo wants another Cold War with Russia to step up military spending.
More baloney from an out-of-touch puppet of the megalomaniac puppet-master and policy maven who wields a mean shotgun. Congress neeeds to shoot this missle defense shield down along with all such Military/Industrial/ Corporatizer idiocy.
WE GOT NO CHOICE NOW TO ATTACK IRAN BUSH ALREADY OPEN UP A CAN OF WORMS,IF WE DONT WE ARE GONNA BE IN BIG TROUBLE.HIT THEM BEFORE ITS TO LATE…
The most insane thing about all of this is that even if Iran was bristling with ICBM’s, there is no evidence whatsoever, or even reason to suspect, that Iran would launch an unprovoked attack on any nation - much less attack Europe using with nuclear weapons.
Only the United States does that.
So, either:
1. The US is psychologically projecting it’s own vile imperialist aggressive instincts onto the Persian people; or,
2. The US is seriously planning an all-out unprovoked attack on Iran, and wants to make sure Iran cannot defend itself; or,
3. The missile system has no well thought-out use, but there’s too much money to be made building it by the big-daddy warbucks-machine.
Okay, for me a true admirer of humor — laughter over. This guy and his crew are truly sick — I mean truly sicko — and now they are planting the first step — which is the idea of WWIII. Idea is the father to the deed. Here we go — what those of us have been chuckling about in a joshing sense. This isn’t funny. These sacks of unevolving existence mean this stuff. This whole stuff makes Dr. Strangelove look like a home movie. We are the immune system and they are the virus. No virus can move or progress beyond the boundaries of a thriving immune system. Uh oh! I sense we are not thriving — but rapidly degenerating into surviving. We must turn this around!
I wonder how many who post on this site, go to neocon websites (of similar open posting design) and joust with the enemy?
Has anyone done this and ever made any headway?
I began to do it (always, now, avoiding any temper flares and always having my ‘facts’ triple-verified) after visiting a few such sites, and seeing how the same kind of cursing and mocking of ‘lefties,’ interspersed with occasionally-cooler analysis, occurs on the ‘other side,’ toward us.
People are so polarized — me included, I guess. It’s depressing. So I usually try to use a version of Plato’s debate method, with the neocons (in the manner that Plato somewhat fatuoulsy arranged the opposing ’sides’ in his Dialogues): First argue FOR and summarize the other guy’s point even better than he does, then proceed to disprove it by demolishing your own better-argued devil’s advocacay rendition of his position — but not too cockily.
In cases where you can manage to do this with some neocons, it sometimes leaves them doubtful of their premises and/or their actual understanding of an issue - or even their general outlook on the world. Just as maybe some non-screechy Libertarians have done that for us, here.
Sometimes, of course, I fail and just get shouted down or get totally devoured by their wolf-pack rage. But most times not.
In any case, I think it’s good cognitive exercise for progressive heads to dialogue in the enemy camp; it hones one’s own thinking skills, etc. And besides showing how differently many righties emotionally perceive the world from lefties, it does create in many instances some kind of basic human bond with the political ‘enemy, where before there was the feeling of none whatsoever.
Even tho I do mt share of Rightie roasting here, the feeling of creating too much intense negative energy toward people on the Right, often leaves me self-nauseated: feeling that I’m feeding a process that makes existence itself just one unending rageful shouting match.
Fortunately, I live near a huge forest, as antidote to politics. Credo Experto: It’s a distinct life saver to be able to sometimes just interact with an unbounded expanse of ancient, swaying trees. Trees may have a kind of polis among themselves - but no political parties are allowed, it’s clear.
Iran is no threat, but the U.S. and Israel are a dangerous threat to world peace. There is no lie that the present U.S. government won’t make up in order to attack Iran just as it did to Iraq.
Of course the feeble Democrats in Congress will allow another illegal strike on an oil-rich country for war profiteering for the military-industrial complex and oil corporations.
I was anxious to comment on this article, but after reading the comments already registered, I feel it is has pretty well been said. Brovo!
Jake Jaspers,
Good for you! I tried that exercise (visiting neocon online groups) a number of times from about four to seven years ago and found that the infrequent success I experienced was not worth the aggravation. Also, I have lived much of my life in or near conservative areas and have had many live debates with neocons and conservatives, and I have gotten my fill that way. However, I do believe such experiences did help me understand better some weak points in arguments and approaches of progressives and other leftists, and I have adjusted accordingly.
But if you can continue to stomach that indefinitely, more power to you!
Jake,
I few comments regarding your conclsions.
I disagree with your idea that we are polarized. Sometimes viewpoints are so extreme, immoral or counter to historical experience - in other words “wrong” - that they just not worth considering. The US new-right is currently so exterme that we should not expect to reach any common ground with them. Their notions justice and morality and their complete dismissal of compassion as an necessary force in society and between nations are repulsive and are to be rejected on their face.
Was it “polarization” when Italian or German dissidents could not come to a compromise with an Mussolini or Hitler?
Philosophically, the largely uniquely American idea of “balance” in discorse flies in the very face of the workings of dialectical social progress. The synthesis that arises from thesis and antithresis is most decidedly does NOT mean a mishmash of compromise. This is evident in the decidely more democratic outcomes of the parliamentary bodies of other industrial bodies, where everyday debate is FAR more rancorous than the US congress - outbursts like Rep. Starks are perfectly common. Yet this vigorous shouting at each other does not lead to deadlock, but the synthesis of leglislation that nore reflect a good society. Meanwhile, in the US, the absurd level of decorum between opponents guaranteed deadlock and stasis.
A parody of what we get when we seek such “balance” is here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn06302005.html
And you should speak for yourself regarding the “libertarians” (i.e. Mtn Goat) convincing anyone here. Only in the US where most people are ignorant of history - notably labor history, do their arguments get any traction at all.
Geez…anything to divert our attention from Iraq/Iran. reagan did the same thing with his Star Wars defense sys. The shrub is taking a lesson from the other asshole (reagan). When reagan did that we had to look around to see who he was murdering.
Who will Bush and thugs decide to attack next? All of a sudden Iran is the menace from what pronouncements? Someone somewhere should bind up this lunatic quickly before we DO end up with some kind of WWIII. Isn’t there are law somewhere that enables Congress to hog and tie lunatics who are misleading our Country? I wonder how many citizens believe this rhetoric about the dangers of Iran other than the usual right wing wackos. By the way, what will this idiot plan to do about Ecuador who wants a base in our country if we want our bases to remain in their country past 2009? Chavez was right, Bush is a devil.
Beautiful post Jake. And very constructive. Those are the people we need to reach and yours is a great way to do it. I will definitely keep it in mind.
I was debating neocons differently by refuting their arguments directly. It’s difficult to not react when they reply with personal insults but by staying respectful you can change some minds a bit.
I suspect that Plato’s is a better way to debate and I am anxious to try it. Would you tell us what are some good neocon sites to visit?
Way to go Satans protege !!!U toe mart,bwite babie,dum dum
PJD -
Agree with your further clarification of my use of the term ‘polarization.’
When I joust with Rightists who’re fully off-the-wall, I don’t seek feel-good, political/philosophical comproimse with them: just a chance to talk to them, about existence and ideals, as one human to another. And RE Libertarians, like Mtn Goat: Naive as he/she was about Capitalism, he/she often argued ideas in a simple, human-to-human point of view that tried to uphold non-violence, non-theft of one individual’s labor by another - valid distinctions sometimes lost in a lot of state socialist thinking I see here (like Chomsky, I’m not an authoritarian socialist.)
ezeflyer -
I jump around from local to national conservative reader/poster interactive websites, found in huge profusion by any Google search using relevant terms, to do my jousting with the posters thereon.
One such, was National Review’s interactive webpage, but this particular site sub-page now seems suddenly defunct. (I can do an internal computer memory scan, if you can’t find these sites by yourself, and give you the website addresses - let me know.
I want to re=iterate that I do agree with PJD’s post above, that it’s pointless to compromise basic Humanist principles, in such Left/Right exchanges. Their basic usefulness for progs is to civilly provide another view of the world to reactionaries - many of whom never/ever hear any differential feedback.
Also, ezeflyer: your posts here are always among the A-1’s, in my judgment….
Regards.
Makes you wonder, why Poland and the Czech Republic are stupid enough to let Bush & his bad company in with their missile shield, pissing off all other European countries. At least the conservative Polish government responsible lost the election and the new guy in charge is certainly no friend of alienating the European Union, quite the opposite. So let’s see, things might change and there might be no missile shield and Bush will not be able to create disputes (and that is a welcome side-effect for him) amongst European nations.
The only ‘urgent defence’ we, the world, need is from the US: attacking left and right and all in the name of ‘democracy’, something the US has stopped practicing long time ago.