As If We Need More To Worry About...

Vladimir Putin and Russia claim to have developed an ICBM that no missile defense system, present or future, can stop. Along with this ICBM is a tactical cruise missile that also is supposed to be able to penetrate missile defense systems. This missile can carry multiple independent nuclear warheads and is known as the RS-24.

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov is one of the biggest proponents of upgrading Russia's military might, and is one of the top prospects to succeed Putin as President of Russia.

Yet, it's events like this that get brushed aside when people say "we don't need a missile defense system, it's a waste of money". Sure, North Korea may only be able to hit the Aleutian Islands at best...and Iran doesn't necessarily have a deployment vehicle for the nuclear warheads they are pursuing.

However, this is Russia we're talking about!!! The motherland of the former Soviet Union. Ok, kids, let's harken back 20 years or so...these people were our sworn enemy. Until Gorbechev, every Soviet Premier intended to find ways to destroy the "capitalist pigs" like the United States, the UK, France, and the rest of the west.

In fact, during Jimmy Carter's administration, the Soviet Union had plans to invade the United States by 1984. It was Ronald Reagan's election and subsequent hardline anti-Communist movement that put a stop to that.

The Russians also want the U.S. to withdraw it's anti-ballistic missile forces from Eastern Europe, which is only there to stop nuclear missile threats from Iran, North Korea, and other nations that are actively pursuing nuclear weapon technology.

So the Russians want to eliminate the American anti-ballistic missile defenses from Europe, and at the same time develop missiles that cannot be stopped by missile defense systems. Now tell me, why would Russia want it both ways?