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Surprised nobody else has put this one up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11711042

Makes me wonder if this is a step closer to a possible 'sod it, just nuke them' solution to Extremism? I know, dirty thought for a liberal! But sometimes I wonder if Ripley had a point.

But on a serious note, this is intriguing.

Yeah, interesting. If you think about it it kind of makes sense to include Russia in this - they will feel that they are protected from attack by NATO, and it will protect all NATO members from attack by them. Its a way of protecting ourselves without alienating them by adopting what ostensibly looks like a defensive posture towards them.

I think that this could actually be a major step towards lasting peace with Russia, which can only be a good thing.

I quite agree. Depends suppose, upon who olds the big red 'How About No' button.

If Russia have no way to activate it, it's a bit of a crap shield for them.

I would assume all NATO members would retain control of their air defences...

Including Russia is definitely key, if they're kept out, then it looks like we're aiming it at them as much as at Iran. As far as who holds the big red button, I'd say that no one would. The satellite would broadcast its: " missiles inbound!" to Moscow, Washington, London, Berlin, etc. etc. at the same time, with no one in the way to say 'let's not tell country X.' And the individual nations would respond with their interceptors on a case by case basis.

Turkey agreed to this missile shield provided they retained control over all the facilities for it within their borders.

Fair enough. Sounds like a bit of a plan then, assuming it works.

And it's certainly an improvement on the proposed US version under Bush of 'yeah, we put the Radar here in your country yeah, and then yeah, we don't protect you under the shield yeah'

Wonder if this will get beyond the 'sound principal' idea and become a reality?

Why do I get the feeling that the Republicans will try to stop this just because they can?

Seeing as it covers more than just the US, I doubt they would. After all, if the US says no, what stops other countires proceeding, thus leaving the US very much trousers down?

Anyone know the story line of Tom Clancy's End War? Hopefully this'll be far more successful.

Of course, lets hope we don't "they tried to nuke us, it didn't work, but hey, we'll nuke'em back" situations. It is kinda unethical if you put it like that.

Also, I couldn't see this but, does the system protect NATO and others from Nukes leaving the protected countries, I mean, surely if you have access to the system you can input an override in it.

As long as it isn't controlled by any one country it'll probably work.

is this not one of the main plot elements of Endwar?

tl;dr terroists [russians] managed to start wold war 3 by hacking it

EndWar is not exactly the height of accuracy......saying that terrorists hacking it could start WWII is the same as saying that Russia could bring down the entire US satellite defense system with one stolen component.

It makes for a good story, and fun battles, but it won't happen in the real world.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:Why do I get the feeling that the Republicans will try to stop this just because they can?

They might process it as an erosion of sovereignty, and oppose it on that ground, but it will be a hard sell given the amount of criticism they laid at Obama's feet for canceling the Bush plan.

Or they might just be total douchebags and say "Obama says it's good therefor we vote against it".

You know, politics as usual.

Yeah Americans will hate this and chalk it down to "Big brother" or Obama selling us out out the socialists. I mean these are the same people who threw a fit about putting flouride in tap water. And blame the FBI and CIA for our issues.

I would be shocked if the Republicans opposed this.

Then again, I've been disappointed before.

they opposed tax cuts, and the same bills they brought up. They opposed their own bail outs, vaccines and clean drinking water. they oppose the same full body scanners they loved during the patriot act. I think opposing things is their mutant power. Democrats mutant ability is to just not have a backbone.

sexiest_hero wrote:they opposed tax cuts, and the same bills they brought up. They opposed their own bail outs, vaccines and clean drinking water. they oppose the same full body scanners they loved during the patriot act. I think opposing things is their mutant power. Democrats mutant ability is to just not have a backbone.

Come on man.

Don't be such a homer. Do you really think, if you looked, that you wouldn't find something the Dems agree with that you don't?

there are tons of things i don't agree with dems on. Check out my anti Obama threads. I've called him all kinds of things. It's hard to nail dems because they don't stand for anything. Sept losing.

Monster Rain wrote:

sexiest_hero wrote:they opposed tax cuts, and the same bills they brought up. They opposed their own bail outs, vaccines and clean drinking water. they oppose the same full body scanners they loved during the patriot act. I think opposing things is their mutant power. Democrats mutant ability is to just not have a backbone.

Come on man.

Don't be such a homer. Do you really think, if you looked, that you wouldn't find something the Dems agree with that you don't?

He does have a point. There has been a tendency for the GOP to block legislation once the White House comes around to support it.

I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

Washington had it right. no foreign entanglements.

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

Washington had it right. no foreign entanglements.

No way, the US military base that is nearish me has a US supermarket nearby. If we disbanded NATO where the hell would I get root beer and almond M&Ms? I'm sure there are some other political arguments to be made, but mine is clearly the most important, so keep paying a huge slice of your taxes to keep NATO functioning as I eat these twizzlers.

legoburner wrote:No way, the US military base that is nearish me has a US supermarket nearby. If we disbanded NATO where the hell would I get root beer and almond M&Ms? I'm sure there are some other political arguments to be made, but mine is clearly the most important, so keep paying a huge slice of your taxes to keep NATO functioning as I eat these twizzlers.

If this is the case, the US should increase overseas operations - I too want to eat this "Candy" stuff from my new local US supermarket.

legoburner wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

Washington had it right. no foreign entanglements.

No way, the US military base that is nearish me has a US supermarket nearby. If we disbanded NATO where the hell would I get root beer and almond M&Ms? I'm sure there are some other political arguments to be made, but mine is clearly the most important, so keep paying a huge slice of your taxes to keep NATO functioning as I eat these twizzlers.

Mmmm M&Ms...

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

What on earth are you on about now? Are you sitting there pretending that NATO is a completely altruistic organisation set up to protect Europe from Evil Red Invaders? Where do you get your opinions from?

America has (well, had) a large amount of interest in having a significant European buffer against Russia.

Albatross wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

What on earth are you on about now? Are you sitting there pretending that NATO is a completely altruistic organisation set up to protect Europe from Evil Red Invaders? Where do you get your opinions from?

America has (well, had) a large amount of interest in having a significant European buffer against Russia.

Not any more. The Russian Bear isn't going to invade Europe. If it did, you should be able to defend yourselves now.
Hell the Warsaw Pact is gone. The USSR is a memory.

Frazzled wrote:

Albatross wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

What on earth are you on about now? Are you sitting there pretending that NATO is a completely altruistic organisation set up to protect Europe from Evil Red Invaders? Where do you get your opinions from?

America has (well, had) a large amount of interest in having a significant European buffer against Russia.

Not any more. The Russian Bear isn't going to invade Europe. If it did, you should be able to defend yourselves now.
Hell the Warsaw Pact is gone. The USSR is a memory.

That was implied in what I posted, If you'll only just read it a little more thoroughly. My point is that you seem to think that it was all about defending Europe, which is facile nonsense.

Albatross wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Albatross wrote:

Frazzled wrote:I have a better idea. Disband NATO. The time of the American Empire is over. Let Europe take care of itself.

What on earth are you on about now? Are you sitting there pretending that NATO is a completely altruistic organisation set up to protect Europe from Evil Red Invaders? Where do you get your opinions from?

America has (well, had) a large amount of interest in having a significant European buffer against Russia.

Not any more. The Russian Bear isn't going to invade Europe. If it did, you should be able to defend yourselves now.
Hell the Warsaw Pact is gone. The USSR is a memory.

That was implied in what I posted, If you'll only just read it a little more thoroughly. My point is that you seem to think that it was all about defending Europe, which is facile nonsense.

Yea...it really was.
regardless, there's no need for the US to be involved in any capacity with a nuclear shield for Europe. Let the Europeans build it and pay for it if they want. I have no problem with them doing it, but I'm sick of paying for Europe. We're broke. Time to pull back and act like we did before you guys dragged us into two wars.

You don't know anything about this, or any other topic.