In his years of presidency, George W. Bush proposed adding a defensive missile shield in “Russia’s Backyard” to prevent attack from Iran. These shields would consist of a radar station situated in the Czech Republic and multiple U.S interceptor missile sites housed in Poland which would protect the United States from potential Iranian nuclear harassment. This past summer, many threats were received from Moscow about these plans, claiming it to be a defence against Russian arms. Although both Mr. Bush and current president Barrack Obama have assured it is no threat to Russia, the plans have recently been scrapped, creating huge controversy over who the United States is trying to please, and why they have decided to leave themselves and their allies in potential danger. Originally, George Bush had signed an agreement with the Czech Republic and Poland to set up missile sites within the boundaries of their countries. As shown in the image below, missile sites would be places just beside Redzikowo air base in Poland. The defended area is seen to be the entirety of Europe (as these shields were meant for defensive purposes only), though as Russia has commented, the only known Iranian missile, the Shahab-3, has a maximum range of about 2,000km. This distance is not even enough to reach the outer boundaries of Poland, let alone the United States. Whilst the plans were made as a “precaution” to unknown weapons, Russia believes that the U.S “can postpone their decision until there’s a realistic threat” (senior Russian official talking to BBC). After numerous threats from Moscow, the United States did exactly this, postponed their land-based missile shields. This decision was seen by Russia as a “breakthrough for relations between Moscow ... ... middle of paper ... ...her it is Canadian, Russian, or even International), if this route is deemed as international waters, it is almost certain that NATO warships will be present there. Because of this new thought, Russia has reconsidered their threats to remove the land-based missiles. With missiles in Poland, radars could always detect any missile activity, though with warships in the Northern Sea Route, it is nearly impossible to tell where NATO is located. It is clear that though this issue has been solved for the time being, there is still much more room for further development and debate. While some will believe that removing the land-based missiles was a clear and wise move, others will always have the opposite opinion. But, as an act of relations and strategic planning, Obama has created the perfect link between American arms and Russian military that has been seen to date.
We were already in a cold war, not knowing wither if these missiles were going to go off it made people panic. Yet, Kennedy took it upon himself to, to assured us that we needed to take precautionary measure. Kennedy could have said, don’t worry, or nothing at all. Instead, he let us in and let us knows what was up because this crisis involved us, the nation, that involves everybody. After a long wait, the crisis ended peacefully with a deal was made to make sure that Soviets agreed to get rid of their missile if the US, go rid of their own missiles in turkey (it is only fair). This is the agreement that ended the Cuban missile crisis and made our Nation, including the Soviets, and the Cubans relaxed. After this scare, a bunch of treaties was made and signed to reduce nuclear power. Leading us to create a great relation with China, after being a great ally to the Soviets
...il finally the USSR issued a deal. The deal seemed to work out more for the Soviets as they insured the safety of Cuba and got the U.S. missiles removed from Turkey. If the United States issued a deal first, like they planned to, they might’ve gotten a better deal.
Politicians from both the United States and the Soviet Union are the key players of the Cold War. They are the ones who took actions. President Reagan was credited for his bravery and initiation of the Zero-Option strategic plan. However, some of Reagan’s pugnacious speeches and decision to increase the United States defense spending provoked tension and calamitous accidents like the Korean Aircraft incident. The public’s fear of a nuclear war is another factor that pressured Reagan to create better relations with the Soviet Union. Although Reagan’s improbable Strategic Defense Initiative, claiming to prevent a nuclear war, received numerous criticism, it is a factor that influenced the Soviet Union to make an agreement. Reagan’s realization of the obsolete nuclear war and his initiation of the arms control talks led to a realistic and
In October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in what could be considered the most dangerous moment in the Cold War. The United Sates realized that the Soviet Union was holding medium-range missiles armed with nuclear weapons that could hit every major city in the U.S. At the time President John F. Kennedy was in office. Kennedy took much time and thought when putting a naval quarantine and negotiating a deal that led the Soviets to remove the missiles that were being held in Cuba, in exchange for this we made a promise to not invade Cuba and a secret promise to remove our nuclear-tipped missiles from Turkey. Although this tension only lasted 13 days, a lot was both gained and lost by the U.S. and the Soviets.
That six months’ notice was given by the President George W. Bush of the United States to Russia on December 15, 2001. This is the first time in recent history that the United States has withdrawn from a major international-arms treaty. Although talks had been held with the Russians on possible amendments to the treaty, the United States opted to withdraw completely in order to have an open slate for the development and deployment of anti-ballistic missile defense. Among the reasons for withdraw from the ABM treaty are the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Supporters of the withdraw cited the attacks as an example of what a seemingly small faction could do to the Unit...
During Eisenhower’s terms as president the U.S followed a policy of massive retaliation which meant that if attacked the U.S would respond with a large number of nuclear weapons rather than deploying ground forces (Shivley pp,6). As the soviet Nuclear capabilities grew this theory would give way for the idea of mutually assured destruction, which noted that both sides would theoretically be able to destroy the other opponent with nukes. With these elements of danger looming in the background both nations were reluctant to enter into dangerous disagreement or conflicts in fear of causing the other nation to declare war. Even with this knowledge of nuclear weapons both the U.S and soviet came inches away form a nuclear war when in 1962 the U.S became enraged over the placement of Soviet nuclear weapons in its southern neighbor Cuba. The placement of nuclear weapons in this case added ma extra strain to the cold war relations between the two countries and almost led to disastrous war. In the end the thought of a nuclear war along with the rationale following calmer agreement talks ended this
After the Korean War, it was believed that the United States’ nuclear build-up had played a key role in achieving armistice. At this time, early in President Eisenhower's term in office, he had announced his policy of nuclear superiority. During this time period of nuclear build up, the Soviet Union began to find ways to overcome deficiencies in their strategic technologies2. Not soon after Eisenhower made his policy known, Russia became the first country to successfully test ICBMs, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These tactical nuclear weapons are land based rocket propelled vehicles capable of intercontinental range in excess of 4000 nautical miles....
In 1962 America became aware that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missiles in Cuba from photos secretly taken by a spy plane. Kennedy created a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent more military supplies being brought in by the Soviet Union. Since both sides knew the devastating possibilities of a nuclear war, they publicly agreed to unarm the missiles and the United States would not invade Cuba. The United States also agreed to unarm U.S. missiles in Turkey, however this remained secret for more than 25 years. Although this stopped the missile crisis, the arms race was still going on. The Soviet Union unarmed the missiles but continued to build
missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey." Few says later
This action by the Russian military follows recent missile test launches by Iran and North Korea.
Kennedy was informed of a spy planes’ discovery of Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy shared with the American people of this discovery and put a blockade around Cuba. The USSR saw putting the missiles on the island of Cuba as a leveling on the playing field, since the United States had missiles pointed at them from turkey and other locations around Western Europe. The tension was high for both countries, but on October 26, Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy in which he offered to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba, also the Soviet leader sent a letter proposing that Russia would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey. Kennedy agreed but never removed the missiles from
... and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.
Evaluating threats to America’s national security is a challenge that is undertaken by academics, intelligence analysts, policy-makers, and anyone else with the patience. During the Cold War, America’s biggest concern was easy to define, the only other state capable of competing with America, the Soviet Union. Today, America faces threats from states, non-state actors, domestic groups, and even economic conditions. However, two states should always be kept in mind when discussing national security, China and Russia, with China being the biggest threat.
4. R. Handberg, Ballistic Missile Defense and the Future of American Security: Agendas, Perceptions. Technology, and Policy (Kindle: Praeger, 2001)1-264