From: "Thomas J. Paladino Jr."
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The American defense shield is only designed to shoot down maybe 2 or 3
missiles launched either accidentially from Russia (a distinct possibility)
or from a rogue regime/terrorist network. The Russians, with their
*existing* capability could easily overwhelm the missile shield if they
really wanted to. It is a total farce to suggest that MAD is no longer the
order of the day between the US and Russia.

Haven't you heard? MAD went out of business when our former Commander In Heat
made a deal to retarget all our ICBMS so we are not aiming at each other. That
makes us SO much safer (until someone takes the 5 - 10 minutes it would take to
re target) than ever before.

The missile shield was never aimed at castrating Russian nuclear
capabilities, however, through a combination of gross misrepresentation in
the media and damaged Russian pride over their crumbling world stature, the
missile shield has come to be seen by many as a destablizing force and a
major threat to global security, to which the Russians must respond and
counteract. It is of course none of these. An intentional, large-scale
nuclear volley from Russia, with their current arsenal, would penetrate the
missile shield with ease. The truly unfortunate result of this is that the
already-downtrodden Russian people will suffer the most from the blunder.


1917 comes to mind.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired