U.S., Poland hopeful of missile shield deal

[Black Stone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Polish officials on Tuesday expressed optimism that they can strike a deal which would allow U.S. missiles to be installed in Poland as part of a defensive shield for Europe.

Polish Defense Secretary Bogdan Klich said U.S. officials in meetings at the Pentagon and State Department declared themselves ready to begin talks on possible American help to upgrade Polish air defenses in exchange for Warsaw's agreement to participate in the European shield.

"It's an important declaration because we still at the moment don't see a right balance between the costs and the benefits of this installation," Klich told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"The readiness of the American side to talk about this issue I see as the major result of (my) two days in Washington," he said.

The Bush administration wants to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar installation in the Czech Republic under a $3.5 billion missile defense plan to defend against possible missile attack from Iran and North Korea.

The plan has angered Moscow, which says the system would pose a threat to Russian national security. Russia also has warned it will take unspecified "tangible" measures if construction begins on the missile system's infrastructure.

Klich expressed strong interest in deepening Polish defense and security links with the United States. He cited U.S. ties with two long-time U.S. NATO allies Italy and Turkey as models for future relations.

The Polish defense minister, who arrived in Washington on Monday, also met State Department officials including Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States was optimistic it could address Poland's desire for better air defenses, and was exploring whether any deal could include a role for NATO.

The State Department would not comment on the substance of the talks with Klich.

Poland is the biggest ex-communist member of NATO and has been an important ally for the United States following the September 11, 2001, attacks, sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the new center-right government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, keen to repair relations with Russia, has demanded Washington boost Polish air defenses in exchange for Warsaw's further cooperation.

U.S., Poland hopeful of missile shield deal - Yahoo! News

 

[mujahideen]

Russia is not going to be too happy with this deal.

 

[Black Stone]

Russia is not going to be too happy with this deal.

That's true.

The question now is what are the Russians going to do about it should this proceeds accordingly.

 

[mujahideen]

That's true.

The question now is what are the Russians going to do about it should this proceeds accordingly.

Russia has many cards up its sleeve.

 

[Black Stone]

Russia has many cards up its sleeve.

What are these cards?

 

[mujahideen]

What are these cards?

The ace card which Russia holds right now is that its government is loaded while the U.S. government is in a deficit of I think about 50 billion or so(This figure is off the top of my head but their is a deficit). Now this is the main card. With this card as we know nothing is impossible.

 

[Black Stone]

The ace card which Russia holds right now is that its government is loaded while the U.S. government is in a deficit of I think about 50 billion or so(This figure is off the top of my head but their is a deficit). Now this is the main card. With this card as we know nothing is impossible.

The US has trade deficit with many countries, China being the biggest.

This is a economical issue.

Could you please tell me how the Russians is going to use this trade deficit to affect the missile shield deployment in Europe?

 

[mujahideen]

The US has trade deficit with many countries, China being the biggest.

This is a economical issue.

Could you please tell me how the Russians is going to use this trade deficit to affect the missile shield deployment in Europe?

Because of this deficit the U.S. doesn't have the same power as a nation with money might have. If this trade deficit continues many countries will change their currency dependency from the dollar to something else. Now if the U.S. puts up a shield in Poland it has to pay money and if the dollar slips this money could be useless. This is one point which Russia can advertise. Russia can also supply Iran and other anti-U.S. countries with advance weapons, or maybe even put a defense shield of its own in a country like Venuezela or Cuba, and we might have on our hands a crisis which we had during the Cuban missile crisis. You see the U.S. must realize that it is not the sole superpower anymore. Russia and China are also competing with it and to some extent when it comes to money matters have even surpassed it. Russia right now is out to find its lost glory.

 

[Black Stone]

Because of this deficit the U.S. doesn't have the same power as a nation with money might have. If this trade deficit continues many countries will change their currency dependency from the dollar to something else. Now if the U.S. puts up a shield in Poland it has to pay money and if the dollar slips this money could be useless. This is one point which Russia can advertise. Russia can also supply Iran and other anti-U.S. countries with advance weapons, or maybe even put a defense shield of its own in a country like Venuezela or Cuba, and we might have on our hands a crisis which we had during the Cuban missile crisis. You see the U.S. must realize that it is not the sole superpower anymore. Russia and China are also competing with it and to some extent when it comes to money matters have even surpassed it. Russia right now is out to find its lost glory.

This is the latest information I can find in regards to US trade deficits.

Top Ten Countries with which the U.S. has a Trade Deficit

As you can see, Russia is not even in the top 10. Therefore, could you please provide a source of the trade deficit with Russia as you have mentioned before. I would like to read about it.

According to the link you could see there are other nations that has a greater trade deficit than Russia. Out of the coutnries listed doesn't pose a threat to the US.

The only exception I could think is China.

 

[mujahideen]

This is the latest information I can find in regards to US trade deficits.

Top Ten Countries with which the U.S. has a Trade Deficit

As you can see, Russia is not even in the top 10. Therefore, could you please provide a source of the trade deficit with Russia as you have mentioned before. I would like to read about it.

According to the link you could see there are other nations that has a greater trade deficit than Russia. Out of the coutnries listed doesn't pose a threat to the US.

The only exception I could think is China.

I didn't mean that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Russi. If you think this is what I meant or may be I wrote it wrong I apologize. I was just saying right now the U.S. government has nothing in its account. During the Great Depression we saw the people didn't have money, but the U.S. government did. Today we are headed towards another recession in which the U.S. government wont be able to pull itself out of because it has no money. It will have to borrow from banks or other countries. Now if Russia was hit by an economic crisis the Russian government can pull its people out because it has money. The thing which is killing the U.S. is its $200 billion plus(figure is off the top of my head) war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is unlikely to accomplish anything. Like I have said before Russia advantage is its money, with which they can do just about anything.

 

[Black Stone]

I didn't mean that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Russi. If you think this is what I meant or may be I wrote it wrong I apologize. I was just saying right now the U.S. government has nothing in its account. During the Great Depression we saw the people didn't have money, but the U.S. government did. Today we are headed towards another recession in which the U.S. government wont be able to pull itself out of because it has no money. It will have to borrow from banks or other countries. Now if Russia was hit by an economic crisis the Russian government can pull its people out because it has money. The thing which is killing the U.S. is its $200 billion plus(figure is off the top of my head) war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is unlikely to accomplish anything. Like I have said before Russia advantage is its money, with which they can do just about anything.

I accept your apology.

I share some of your views, the wars does dry us of our money and the depreciation of the dollar doesn't help either.

But my position remains.

How can Russian money affect the missile shield?

I don't think money is a factor that we would drop the missile plan.

However, if Russia somehow has influence on Iran to drop the bomb ambition.

Then that is a valuable card in Russian's hands.

Unfortunately, Russia does not have this card.