Romania formally joins ballistic missile defense ring
September 13, 2011The US and Romania formally signed an agreement today to host ground based SM-3 missiles as a part of the European component of the American-led Ballistic Missile Defense System. This is on the heels of the announcement two weeks ago that Turkey had agreed to host a NATO radar site as part of the same system. The Turkish radars and Romanian missiles are officially tagged as a deterrent to possible future Iranian aggression, but could also detect and intercept at least some Russian launches, as well. We await the Russian response to this formal agreement – when the outline of the agreement was announced last spring, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned darkly of “retaliatory measures” if Russia felt its own strategic forces were at risk.
[...] proposal for sending US troops to Georgia, while the US is building its missile defense system with a base in Romania and a radar array in Turkey. Indeed, as the Coalitioning phase of the current cycle continues, I [...]