As fans of aunty Beeb will have noticed we have just moved one step closer to a proper geopolitical crises this afternoon with agreement being reached by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, and US Under-Secretary of State John Rood to station 10 missile interceptors in the eastern European state.
This surprise announcement came after what had been described as a "further round of Polish-US talks will take place in Warsaw regarding the placing of elements of the US anti-missile defence system in Poland."
This surprise announcement came after what had been described as a "further round of Polish-US talks will take place in Warsaw regarding the placing of elements of the US anti-missile defence system in Poland."
But of course the nasty twins who managed o get elected to power in Poland once half the workers had moved on to fix blocked drains or jab spotty arses in western Europe have been talking about this since November 2005 when Poland's prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said he wanted to open up the public debate on whether Poland should host such a base. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4445284.stm
There never really was much of a public debate to be fair - but then again there wasn't much of debate about opening CIA dark prisons within extended commuting distance of Auschwitz either. When the USA signed a deal with the Czech republic as part of all this missile shield gizmology earlier this year a 67% public opinion opposition to the scheme was recorded & ignored. Ordinary people know little about missiles and need not be consulted.
The Polish foreign office http://www.msz.gov.pl/Polish-US,discussions,regarding,the,anti-missile,shield,20546.html
US missile shield gadgest and gizmology links
according to the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5106762.stm
according to Wikipedia much of the gizmology is made by Raytheon a good target for anti-war activists in both the UK and Ireland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-ballistic_missile#European_front
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82upsk#U.S._Anti-Missile_Defence_Shield
Fans of "23" will love the legal (US) background to all this : On 16 December 2002 President George W. Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 23 http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-23.htm which outlined a plan to begin deployment of operational ballistic missile defense systems by 2004. The following day the U.S. formally requested from the UK and Denmark use of facilities in Fylingdales, England, and Thule, Greenland, respectively, as a part of the NMD program. [spot that fnord "thule" there?]
The projected cost of the program for the years 2004 to 2009 was to be $53 billion, making it the largest single line in The Pentagon's budget outside paperclips, wallpaper and velcro.
Q: so where is the CIA dark base or if you can't answer that- where will the missile shield go?
A. Ustka-Wicko base of the Polish Army is mentioned as a possible site of US missile interceptors. look at in Google Earth : 54°33′14″N 16°37′13″E / 54.553748, 16.620255
or just enjoy trumpcard type pictures of the base here with helpful explanatory notes in Polish.
http://wikimapia.org/4009406/pl/Centralny_Poligon_Si%C5%82_Powietrznych_znany_te%C5%BC_pod_nazw%C4%85_poligon_Ustka_Wicko_Morskie
Q: Is there anything we can do to stop this madness?
A: Why of course, we could ask the Russians to station a missile defence shield in Cuba and thus even up the odds.
Q: But the "Washington Post" already said something like that in July of this year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/22/ST2008072200062.html
So is this really the end of the world?
A: diazapan and/or bibles.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4445284.stm There never really was much of a public debate to be fair - but then again there wasn't much of debate about opening CIA dark prisons within extended commuting distance of Auschwitz either. When the USA signed a deal with the Czech republic as part of all this missile shield gizmology earlier this year a 67% public opinion opposition to the scheme was recorded & ignored. Ordinary people know little about missiles and need not be consulted.
The Polish foreign office
http://www.msz.gov.pl/Polish-US,discussions,regarding,the,anti-missile,shield,20546.html US missile shield gadgest and gizmology links
according to the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5106762.stm according to Wikipedia much of the gizmology is made by Raytheon a good target for anti-war activists in both the UK and Ireland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-Based_Midcourse_Defense http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-ballistic_missile#European_front http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82upsk#U.S._Anti-Missile_Defence_Shield Fans of "23" will love the legal (US) background to all this : On 16 December 2002 President George W. Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 23
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-23.htm which outlined a plan to begin deployment of operational ballistic missile defense systems by 2004. The following day the U.S. formally requested from the UK and Denmark use of facilities in Fylingdales, England, and Thule, Greenland, respectively, as a part of the NMD program. [spot that fnord "thule" there?] The projected cost of the program for the years 2004 to 2009 was to be $53 billion, making it the largest single line in The Pentagon's budget outside paperclips, wallpaper and velcro.
Q: so where is the CIA dark base or if you can't answer that- where will the missile shield go?
A. Ustka-Wicko base of the Polish Army is mentioned as a possible site of US missile interceptors. look at in Google Earth : 54°33′14″N 16°37′13″E / 54.553748, 16.620255
or just enjoy trumpcard type pictures of the base here with helpful explanatory notes in Polish.
http://wikimapia.org/4009406/pl/Centralny_Poligon_Si%C5%82_Powietrznych_znany_te%C5%BC_pod_nazw%C4%85_poligon_Ustka_Wicko_Morskie Q: Is there anything we can do to stop this madness?
A: Why of course, we could ask the Russians to station a missile defence shield in Cuba and thus even up the odds.
Q: But the "Washington Post" already said something like that in July of this year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/22/ST2008072200062.html So is this really the end of the world?
A: diazapan and/or bibles.
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Missing background to somewhat misleading article
14.08.2008 21:12
Number of 'anti missile missiles' being installed: about a dozen.
Number of Russian atomic weapons: about two thousand.
Threat to Russia? Almost non existent.
Reason for 'shield'? Long range missiles from what might be called 'Third World' countries, but which have some rather impressive technology.
Chnace of the 'shield' being effecive? Almost non existent, but if the Americans want to waste their money, it's their's to burn.
el gaga
Russia threatens nuclear attack on Poland - Telegraph.
15.08.2008 19:38
I'm not convinced that a missile shield poses no risk to anyone, for two very good scientific reasons :-
(1) you shoot at something in the atmosphere it falls down and has to land somewhere.
(2) you shoot at something in orbit, it doesn't fall down (it's erronous to talk of shooting down missiles in orbit) they merely continue in orbit in little bits.
now if we believe the USA's intention is to protect itself from non-existent Iranian incoming nuclear warheads that seems to me like they are proposing those incoming nukes fall somewhere else, presumedly to the east of Poland and the west of Iran or that those ICBM are broken up in orbit to fallout on all of us.
Anyway - I'm no expert but the whole thing stinks to me of black budget gizmology, I wouldn't be surprised if right under our noses the most Pentagon money ever budgeted is being proposed for something which makes utterly no sense and will never be used but is in fact being diverted and invested in candy bars or paperclips.
That nuk'em news :-
"Only 24 hours after the weapons agreement was signed Russia's deputy chief of staff warned Poland "is exposing itself to a strike 100 per cent". General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that any new US assets in Europe could come under Russian nuclear attack with his forces targeting "the allies of countries having nuclear weapons". He told Russia's Interfax news agency: "By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 per cent certain. It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority." Russia's nuclear rhetoric marks an intense new phase in the war of words over Georgia. The Caucasus conflict has spiralled into a Cold War style confrontation between Moscow and Washington in less than a week. "
jabberwocky of fnords
But you miss the point ...
15.08.2008 21:52
As to Russia? Well, paranoia seems to have been a consistent feature of Russian foreign policy since about 1920.
And incidentally, can you imagine the brouhaha that would erupt on this site if Bush made similar comments?
el gaga
Oh, I didn't know struck down missiles were harmless
17.08.2008 16:03
But if we look back at the practical history of "shooting things up in orbit & saying you've shot it down" - the USA, February 21, 2008, destroyed the disabled spy satellite USA 193 with a sea-launched missile, purportedly due to the potential danger of a hydrazine (N2H4) release if it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere intact. ¿is that not so? & the Chinese together with the Russians accused them of endangering the peaceful use of Space Treaty in what they interpreted as a militarisation. If Hydrazine fell on your roof it would burn through it. Then your head would be in shite anyway. & not just for the insurance or explanations to the irent collecting bod.
BTW
The Iranians have launched their own first satellite.
jabberwocky of fnords
boingggg ...
17.08.2008 19:52
The Iranian launch of the Safir makes this all the more timely, no?
el gaga
but my honoured friend El Gaga, don't you see the silliness?
18.08.2008 15:38
This the most expensive project the Pentagon has undertaken to date.
...........you'd have thought surely that skulling non-Poles or non Polish residents came cheaper.
jabberwocky of fnords
It's up to the Americans ...
18.08.2008 16:47
And the deployment of 10 Patriot missiles isn't going to cost that much.
el gaga