Missile Defense Quick Links for Friday
**In an op-ed in the Opinion Journal, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton writes about President-Elect Obama’s visit to Polish President Lech Kaczynski, which we briefly mentioned this week. Bolton noted that although Obama didn’t commit to the planned missile defense shield in Poland, Kaczynski is under the impression that the project will move forward. In fact, Obama was explicit about not committing.
“Mr. Obama contradicted a head of state, clinging to a campaign position that could most kindly be described as weak and ambiguous,” Bolton writes. “The statement also reflected a naiveté in the structuring of such transition conversations — and future dealings with truly unfriendly foreign leaders — that could have been avoided.”
**On Wednesday, India successfully test-fired a surface-to-surface missile called Shourya, which has a range of 375 miles. The missile was fired from Balasore in eastern Orissa state. The missile is designed to protect against attacks from Pakistan, India’s rival. The two countries engaged in battle three times since gaining independent from Great Britain in 1947. Since 1994, they’ve held peace talks. (AP)
**On that same day, Iran test-fired a new missile (successfully?), which has a range close to 1,200 miles. With that capacity, the missile can reach Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf region. The U.S. suspects Iran may be building atomic weapons, which Iran denies. Although our new president has been critical of the current president’s policy, he has not ruled out “military action” should the U.S. discover that Iran is covertly building a nuclear arsenal. (Reuters)
Tags: Gulf, India, Iran, Israel, John Bolton, Lech Kaczynski, Pakistan, Poland, Shourya