The Noose Is Tightening

The recent talk about placing ABM components in Poland and the Czech Republic has merely irritated Russia.

Apparently, more provocative measures are now needed.

The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said Thursday that Washington wants to base an anti-missile radar in the Caucasus, a move that could provoke a further rift with Russia.

Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering declined to specify which country the long-range radar could be installed in, but noted that "it would be very useful for the anti-missile system."

Speaking on a stop at NATO headquarters in Brussels, he said "we would like to place a radar in ... the Caucasus."

The United States has said the planned defenses would not be aimed at Russia, and are intended to defend against missile attacks from countries such as Iran.

Moscow has angrily criticized Washington's plan to locate an anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland. It is likely that placing another radar in a U.S.-allied country such as Georgia or Azerbaijan would provoke further protest.

Unlike anti-aircraft systems, anti-missile radars have very narrow beams that cannot be used to monitor large swathes of air space. They have high resolution and very long ranges, allowing them to follow objects the size of a baseball at distances of up to nearly 2,000 miles.

Russia has warned that Poland and the Czech Republic risked being targeted by Russian missiles if they agreed to host the U.S. anti-missile bases.

In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said the missile elements planned by Washington for Poland and the Czech Republic would become a "factor that we will have to take into account while determining our steps in the military-political sphere and military development."

"In the modern world, security is indivisible. You can't ensure your own security if you provoke other nations' concerns about their security," Grushko said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

High-level plans for a series of "Your Mama" insults against the Russians are rumored to be in the pipeline. The NSC and DOD are said to be down with the program, but the State Department is allegedly balking at escalating to "The Dozens."