Novosti, Russia
U.S. Missile Plan in Europe a Way to Bilk American Taxpayer
"Lobbyists for the U.S. military-industrial complex in Congress and the White House will not allow this money to be used for any other purpose."
By Viktor Safonov
Translated By William Kern
http://www.watchingamerica.com/novosti000042.shtmlJune 8, 2007
Russia - Novosti - Original Article (Russian)
MOSCOW: The proposal made by Vladimir Putin to George W. Bush at this year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm will be difficult to refuse. Why put radar bases and missile interceptors in the Czech Republic and Poland to protect Europe from "rogue states" - by which the USA means Iran - when there is a much simpler, cheaper and more effective solution even closer to the Iranian border?
The "Daryal" early warning system is located in Gabala, Azerbaijan, just 180km <111 miles> north of Baku. Switching the location of the base would therefore appear to benefit everyone.
Washington would thereby remove Moscow's natural concern that the U.S. anti-missiles on the Baltic Sea coast are really directed at Russian strategic missiles in the Provinces of Tver, Kaluga, Ivanovo and Vladimir. Warsaw, Prague and their European neighbors would no longer have to fear Russian Topol-M and Iskander-M missiles that, as Putin has warned, would be targeted at their territory. And the United States would have the capacity to completely monitor Iranian airspace.
The Gabala radar station monitors the earth, ocean, air and space up to 6,000 kilometers away, an arc that covers the Bosphorus
- which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara - to the Andaman and China seas, or in other words, from Turkey to Malaysia and Singapore.