Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the NATO Summit in

Lisbon: Has he gotten everything he wanted from NATO?

 

 

Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia

Russia Offers to Defend NATO. ... Or So it Seems

 

"This is precisely the manner in which Moscow will secure full equality in decision making. It must be said that, at first, this revolutionary proposal plunged experts into a state of confusion. Practically speaking, the responsibility for defending Europe will be entirely up to Moscow. … This way, Russian leaders have kept open every opportunity to return to verbal confrontation."

 

By Alexander Goltz

                                  

 

Translated By Yekaterina Blinova

 

November 22, 2010

 

Russia - Yezhednevniy Zhurnal - Original Article (Russian)

As one might have predicted, the Russia-NATO Summit went off without a hitch. The Atlantic Alliance said in its new Strategic Concept that NATO - who would ever have imagined it? - is not a threat to Russia. Thus, only a small detail remains: convince the authors of Russia's military doctrine, which calls “the expansion of NATO” the central military threat [to Russia]. Aside from that, the sides agreed to expand Afghan transit [supplying NATO in Afghanistan through Russian territory].

 

And finally, the big sensation: the Alliance invited Moscow to participate in its East European missile defense system. [President] Medvedev not only rejected the proposal, but he familiarized his colleagues with his own vision. And in the course of his press conference [see below], the president said something mysterious: Moscow is offering its partners the creation of a “sectoral” missile defense system. Within this context, it follows that this is precisely the manner in which Moscow will secure full equality in decision making. It must be said that, at first, this revolutionary proposal plunged experts into a state of confusion.

 

But thank God the Russian delegation contained Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, who once again acted as presidential interpreter. He told the correspondent from Moskovsky Komsomolets that the sides must agree on dividing up zones of responsibility: “Roughly speaking, if a rocket flying in the direction of the U.S. is passing over our territory, we are the ones to bring it down. If a rocket is flying toward Russia through the U.S. zone of responsibility, the Americans shoot it down. But at the same time, the Russian Federation will continue to retain control over its missile defense, and NATO - over its own.” Apparently, this same Rogozin, but this time acting as an unnamed high-ranking diplomat, explained to Kommersant: “All of the tools: sensors, radars, rocket interceptors - will be oriented toward outer space and not be placed along the border areas between the Russian Federation and the Alliance. If this is achieved, we'll have the security of knowing that European missile defense isn't encroaching on Russia's strategic nuclear forces.”

 

If this is so, then Moscow is in fact proposing that NATO abandon its missile defense shield. Just look at the map to see the obvious. Rockets from Iran or Syria - countries that possess missile technology, will fly to Europe via Russia. But if the radars, sensors and interceptors are oriented toward the “outer space” of this united missile defense system, they will have practically no chance of keeping an eye on the most “rocket-dangerous” regions. NATO radars and interceptors will be aimed at nothing. The North Atlantic Alliance will no longer have need of a missile defense shield.

 

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

FAZ, Germany: New Russia-NATO Era Hinges on U.S. Senate Republicans

Rossijskaya Gazeta, Russia: Medvedev Sets Markers for Joint Missile Defense

The Nation, Pakistan: For Afghanistan's Sake, NATO Should Leave Before 2014

Xinhua, China: Russia-NATO Partnership 'Easier Said than Done'

Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russia: For its Own Good, We Must Help in Afghanistan

The Independent, U.K.: Our Afghan Exit is Now Overdue

BBC News, U.K.: Obama Announces Missile Shield for all NATO States

The Independent, U.K.: Afghan Police Corruption 'Hits NATO Pullout'

Kommersant, Russia: Madeleine Albright Instructs Russia to 'Know its Place'

Gazeta, Russia: 'Un-European' Obama Shows Why Europe Needs Russia

Romania Liberia, Romania: Obama Rebuilds the Iron Curtain

 

 

Practically speaking, the responsibility for defending Europe will be entirely up to Moscow. I must say that this is a bold decision. But the fact is that the United States already has the capacity to intercept ballistic missiles. These are its Aegis and SM-3 missile naval-deployed systems. In Russia, they say the S-400 system has such a capacity. However, it's known that there are only two such divisions deployed in Russia, both around Moscow. In spite of repeated promises to put the S-400 into mass production, the industry today is in no such position. Experts, including retired Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov, have said more than once that a single zone for Russian and European missile defense doesn't exist. And the missile defense system that protects Moscow is based on the capacity to make nuclear strikes in space, which is hardly acceptable to NATO.    

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

But Medvedev isn't simply proposing an option that is as crude as it is difficult to implement. He is actually demanding that NATO accept Russian conditions: “Either we participate fully, exchange information, and are responsible for solving specific problems, or we do not participate at all. But if we do not participate at all, then, for understandable reasons, we will be forced to defend ourselves.”

 

This way, Russian leaders have kept open every opportunity to return to verbal confrontation.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US November 26, 4:40pm]