Russian Rhetoric Over Proposed Missile Shield is Nothing But Paranoia: No Ten Missiles Ever Built Could Stop a Massive Russian Nuclear Attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin managed to turn the G-8 conference on it's head with his Cold War-style comments on the proposed U.S. missile shield that will have elements in Eastern Europe.

I think he's trying to restart the Cold War and is using the missile shield to do it. There will be elements of the shield in Poland and in the Czech Republic; Putin threatened to target the sites with Russian nuclear weapons.

This is Russian paranoia.

The proof is in the number of intercept missiles that will be based in Poland--a grand total of ten--and the fact that Russia has many times that number of missiles in the form of ICBMs, and technology that allows each ICBM to carry more than one nuclear warhead (anywhere from three to fourteen nuclear warheads).

Look at it this way: if the American system were targeted on Russia, it would destroy the first ten nuclear missiles that Russia launched, leaving the rest of the Russian ICBMs free to launch and to presumably destroy their targets anywhere in the world. And that's IF the American system worked perfectly, which it really hasn't yet.

This missile intercept system should be a non-issue to Russia, but Putin is using it to his advantage to stay in power.

If the Russians don't want this system to be deployed, perhaps they should reign in their pals North Korea and Iran, whose ability to make trouble is unparalleled in the modern age. Or offer to host the system on Russian soil.

In any case, Russia's stirring the pot for Putin's benefit, and no one else's.