Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MISSILE DEFENSE
NATO allies to meet amid Russia anger over missile shield
by Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) Dec 6, 2011


NATO allies will strive to convince Moscow this week that their European missile shield is not aimed at Russia after the Kremlin threatened to deploy weapons systems near EU borders.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join her 27 NATO counterparts for talks on Wednesday that will also touch on the security transition in Afghanistan, ties with the Arab world and tensions in Kosovo.

They will then meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday to tell him the missile shield will go ahead but that NATO still wants to negotiate a cooperation deal with Moscow, alliance diplomats said.

"Rather than having threats to NATO in response to the deployment of NATO missile defences, it would be better if NATO and Russia were to cooperate on dealing with the threats that we face in common," said a senior NATO official.

A diplomat said NATO wants to "calm things down" after Russia activated a radar warning system against incoming missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the EU's borders last week.

Days earlier President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad but he left the door open for continued dialogue on NATO's defence system one year after he agreed to explore ways to cooperate.

"We have been clear and I assume we will be clear in the ministerial that NATO missile defenses will go ahead, ... that those defences are not directed against Russia," the senior NATO official said.

Western officials insist that the missile shield is targeted against growing threats from the Middle East, especially Iran.

NATO has sought to improve ties with Russia in recent years, and Moscow has allowed the alliance to use its territory to send vital supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

The transit route through Russia has become all the more important since Pakistan shut down supply lines in anger at a NATO air strike on the Afghan border which killed 24 Pakistani troops last month.

The uneasy relations with Pakistan will not be on the agenda.

But ministers will discuss the transfer of security reins to Afghan forces following Monday's major Afghanistan conference in Bonn, where participants vowed sustained support for another decade after combat troops leave in 2014.

A peacekeeping mission closer to home, Kosovo, will be discussed in the wake of violence at the border with Serbia that injured 50 NATO troops.

The alliance wants Serbs living in northern Kosovo to remove barricades that have stoked tensions with the ethnic Albanian authorities in Pristina, three years after Kosovans declared independence.

And after the end to the NATO air war in Libya on October 31, in which Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan played key roles, the alliance wants to see how the Arab Spring "may provide new opportunities for engagement with countries from the Middle East and north Africa," the senior official said.

.


Related Links
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MISSILE DEFENSE
Kratos Receives $2.4 Million Contract to Support International Missile Defense Systems
San Diego CA (SPX) Dec 06, 2011
Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has announced that its Herley Industries, Inc. subsidiary has been awarded a $2.4 million contract award in support of certain international missile defense efforts. Herley will provide complex Integrated Microwave Assemblies (IMAs) to an international defense customer to be used in the ground stations of critical missile defense systems. No additional ... read more


MISSILE DEFENSE
Schafer Corp Signs Licensing Agreement with MoonDust Technologies

Russia wants to focus on Moon if Mars mission fails

Flying over the three-dimensional Moon

LRO Camera Team Releases High Resolution Global Topographic Map of Moon

MISSILE DEFENSE
Mars Mission Hoping To Satisfy Curiosity

Two UT Scientists Search for Potential Habitats for Life on Mars

MSL Course Excellent, Adjustment Postponed

Mountains and Buried Ice on Mars

MISSILE DEFENSE
Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge

Ugandan works on space project from mother's backyard

Nanosail-D Sails Home

Dutch astronaut's cheesy request

MISSILE DEFENSE
First Crew for Tiangong

China post office offers letters from space

15 patents granted for Chinese space docking technology

China plans major effort in pursuing manned space technology

MISSILE DEFENSE
Growing Knowledge in Space

MDA to extend its services to support Canadarm2 and Dextre for ISS

FLEX-ible Insight Into Flame Behavior

Satellite junk no threat to space station crew

MISSILE DEFENSE
Fregat upper stage and Pleiades 1 ready for next Soyuz Kourou launch

Europe's third ATV is loaded with cargo for its 2012 launch by Arianespace

Assembly milestone reached with Ariane 5 to launch next ATV

Russia launches Chinese satellite

MISSILE DEFENSE
New Planet Kepler-21b discovery a partnership of both space and ground-based observations

Astronomers Find Goldilocks Planet and Others

The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, a new online database of habitable worlds

Kepler Mission Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

MISSILE DEFENSE
Dell abandons Android tablet in US

Verizon shuns Google smartphone wallet

Streaming to overtake cable in 3-5 years: Netflix

Japan baby formula shows radiation contamination




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement