Russia May Deal "Blackjack" Production Again

Not surprisingly, Russia has it military-industrial whackos just like our crowd into which we will have pumped $ trillion for the F-35, by the time we are finished, and are now lined up to drop many $billion in the the SR-72. Peace dividend? Not as long as we can keep a palate of convenient enemies.

The US withdrawal from the ABM treaty is finally paying dividends for the Russian Military Industrial Complex. The US arms industry saw those benefits almost immediately.

U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the ABM treaty in 2004 was unprecedented since the beginning of World War II and in effect ended any hopes that another treaty, the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, would produce long term security and economic benefits to the common people of the United States, Russia, or the rapidly expanding European Union. The collapse of that single military treaty marginalized the value of ALL other military treaties by showing that such treaties could and would be easily swept away for unilateral economic or political expedience.

Inevitably, in 2007, Russia formally abrogated the already mutually ignored Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty claiming it was made meaningless by basing ABM systems within the ever expanding western military alliance states near its borders.

The escalation continues with this current modernization program as well as Russia's modernization and expansion of its ICBM forces.

The world needs to take a step back, renegotiate, and reenter those critical treaties. This is not an option, the survival of our civilization is at stake here.

Russia clearly understands that this re-ignition of the cold war gives them extreme long term economic advantage. The same economic forces that were used to defeat the old Soviet Union will now be used to against the US; providing some miscalculation doesn't initiate a military conflagration.

Gavilan said "The world needs to take a step back, renegotiate, and reenter those critical treaties. This is not an option, the survival of our civilization is at stake here."

I respectfully disagree. As our enemies (im not thinking of Russia) develop their offensive missile capabilities, the development of our ABM capabilities - purely defensive- is a valid response.

Renegotiating the ABM treaty does not need to eliminate defensive capabilities against rogue states or actors. The original treaty allowed for 100 interceptors at two sites.

100 land based interceptors on the home ground would be more than enough to protect against any conceivable missile threat from a rogue state or actor.

China is now MIRVing their ICBMs. In the age of nuclear weapons the economics of deterrence has and always will favor offensive capability. That logic brought us the original 1972 ABM treaty; and still applies today. ABM systems are inherently destabilizing; we are now witness to that fact.

We are into this for the money; if our adversaries are into this thing to win; we're screwed.

Also; ABM is hardly a "purely defensive" technology.