Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

New York Times – United States
February 5, 2009

The Obama administration is facing its first big international test this weekend as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. heads to a conference in Europe in the face of a confrontational stance from an old cold war adversary.

Administration officials have concluded that Russia pressed Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, to close the American base in that country, which they interpret as a shot across the bow. The base is crucial to the American-led fight in Afghanistan that Mr. Obama has identified as his central national security objective. Mr. Obama plans to deploy as many as 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan over the next two years …

…will Mr. Biden seek to reassure Russia that the Obama administration will ease up on western forays into the former Soviet sphere?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/washington/06policy.html?_r=1&ref=world

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RIA Novosti – Russia
12 January 2009

Kyrgyzstan’s president plans to terminate an agreement with the U.S. on a military airbase in the Central Asian state …

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev … plans to sign a decree ordering the closure within six months of the Gansi base, located at Manas airport in the country’s capital, Bishkek, which the U.S. has run since the 2001 antiterrorism war in Afghanistan …

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090112/119435423.html

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guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 January

Russia today announced it was abandoning plans to deploy nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in its European Kaliningrad outpost – a sign that Moscow wants improved relations with the new US administration. …

The move followed Barack Obama’s decision to review the Pentagon’s controversial missile defence shield in central Europe.

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/28/russia-missiles-kaliningrad-obama

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Los Angeles Times
By Julian E. Barnes
January 23, 2009

William Lynn III, the top lobbyist for Raytheon Co., was chosen by Obama and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for the position of deputy secretary of Defense. … Raytheon, one of the five largest U.S. defense contractors, is a key supplier of missiles and radar to the military. The Waltham, Mass.-based company also produces components of the missile defense system.

If confirmed for his position, Lynn probably would have a large say in the future of the missile defense system. …

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-deputy-defense-secretary23-2009jan23,0,879330.story

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VOA News – 16 January 2009

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he has been listening to and reviewing statements by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and looks forward to working with the new U.S. administration on a wide range of issues. …

Lavrov cited an April agreement between Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin. It provided a framework for their successors on such issues as missile defense, nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, Iran, North Korea, Russian WTO accession, and climate change.

www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-16-voa29.cfm

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Despite Testing at Vandenberg, Scientists Remain Skeptical of Weapon’s Effectiveness

The Santa Barbara Independent – Santa Barbara,CA,USA
Sunday, December 21, 2008

Tasked with protecting the United States from missile threats, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) — a direct descendent of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative — has come under intense criticism from groups claiming that the cost of such a service isn’t justified by the effectiveness of shooting down a missile with another missile. Controversy has also arisen over the role of testing in securing Congressional funding.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a national environmental watchdog organization, brought this issue to the fore during a December 5 missile launch from Santa Barbara County’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, when the MDA conducted what its representatives deemed a successful interception of a target missile. While the interceptor missile from Vandenberg did hit its target, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a statement immediately afterward, stating that the test was not successful due to a lack of realistic circumstances. …

www.independent.com/news/2008/dec/21/missile-defense-success-questioned/

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Reuters – USA

… “If Americans give up plans to deploy the third positioning region and other elements of the strategic missile defense system then certainly we will adequately respond to it,” Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov said.
“We will simply not need a number of expensive programs,” he added echoing earlier Kremlin overtures to the new U.S. administration. …

www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSLJ27618920081219

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By DAVID NOWAK The Associated Press

… The United States and Russia have begun talks on a successor deal to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which expires in December 2009, but a cold spell in Russia-U.S. relations has stymied talks. … Efforts to negotiate a successor pact to the START I have been hurt by a strain in bilateral ties over the U.S. missile defense plans and Russia’s war with Georgia in August. …

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0xBv8YQwWSZqAQgjd42RCvU1uEAD955QGGO0

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PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP)
11 December 2008

The opposition Social Democrats say they plan to ask the Constitutional Court to rule whether a U.S. missile defense installation on Czech territory would be legal. …

www.pr-inside.com/czech-opposition-plans-missile-defense-challenge-r963302.htm

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By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday affirmed their support for U.S. plans to install anti-missile defenses in Europe despite Russia’s strong opposition.

The ministers said the planned U.S. defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic will make a “substantial contribution” to protecting allies from the threat of long-range ballistic missiles.

Russia has vehemently opposed the deployment, threatening to respond by placing short-range missiles in its westernmost region, Kaliningrad, which borders Poland. The U.S. insists the defenses are aimed at potential attack from Iran and pose no threat to Russia’s ballistic arsenal.

All 26 NATO allies signed the statement backing the deployment of interceptor missiles in Poland and an advanced radar station in the Czech Republic. …

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/03/international/i034741S93.DTL

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