In the document that American negotiators presented to the Russians regarding amendments to the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (front page, April 28), the United States seeks to reassure Russia that Moscow could make ''an annihilating counterattack,'' even after a surprise American first strike, as long as it ''keeps its strategic arsenal on constant alert.''
What an argument! To pave the way for deployment of a ballistic missile defense system, which among other purposes is meant to guard against accidental launching of a few Russian missiles, the United States encourages Russia to keep between 1,000 and 2,000 strategic warheads on constant alert.This is foolish. It is also an implicit admission that deployment of even a limited national ballistic missile defense system will make it far more difficult to reduce numbers of strategic weapons and the hair-trigger alert of the forces.:shudder Russia will build a more powerful nuclear-tipped missile to ensure strategic parity with the United States,The missile will be powered by a liquid-fuel engine which will enable it to carry up to four tons of payload,"This is the most advanced state-of-the-art missile in the world," The 47-ton 18-metre Topol-M missile, capable of hitting targets more than 10,800 km away, is said to be a full generation ahead of U.S. missiles and cannot be shot down either by existing or future anti-missile systems. It is also immune to electronic jamming.The new missile will be three times more powerful compared to Topol-M All in all, Russia by 2012 will have between 1700 to 2200 nuclear warheads on its long-range missiles, the maximum arsenal allowed under the Russian-American strategic weapons treaty signed in May 2002. Do you know what im talking about or not
What an argument! To pave the way for deployment of a ballistic missile defense system, which among other purposes is meant to guard against accidental launching of a few Russian missiles, the United States encourages Russia to keep between 1,000 and 2,000 strategic warheads on constant alert.This is foolish. It is also an implicit admission that deployment of even a limited national ballistic missile defense system will make it far more difficult to reduce numbers of strategic weapons and the hair-trigger alert of the forces.:shudder Russia will build a more powerful nuclear-tipped missile to ensure strategic parity with the United States,The missile will be powered by a liquid-fuel engine which will enable it to carry up to four tons of payload,"This is the most advanced state-of-the-art missile in the world," The 47-ton 18-metre Topol-M missile, capable of hitting targets more than 10,800 km away, is said to be a full generation ahead of U.S. missiles and cannot be shot down either by existing or future anti-missile systems. It is also immune to electronic jamming.The new missile will be three times more powerful compared to Topol-M All in all, Russia by 2012 will have between 1700 to 2200 nuclear warheads on its long-range missiles, the maximum arsenal allowed under the Russian-American strategic weapons treaty signed in May 2002. Do you know what im talking about or not