Tilting At Windmills, 21st Century Style

Okay, President Bush, I'm confused. According to the news reports, you suggested that Europe needs to work with the United States to develop a missile defence system to counter the threat of nuclear missile attacks from Iran. This is despite the fact that (a) Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, (b) Iran does not possess missiles with enough range to reach European targets, and (c) anti-missile defence systems are notorious for not being able to do the job for which they are (expensively) purchased, namely shooting down enemy missiles.

The Russians, for one, are not buying W.'s arguments. The Russian Foreign Minister reportedly stated that "North Korea poses a fundamental threat, but Iran does not", so Russia is likely to oppose any plans to build anti-missile defence systems. And who can blame them? Today's defence against a non-existant Iranian threat could easily become a means of protecting US assets from actual Russian missiles.

Personally, I think it is criminally irresponsible for the President to be pushing for unnecessary weapons systems when tens of millions of his citizens lack proper health care, but then again, he is not so much the President of the United States as he is the President of the International Corporatist Agenda. Unfortunately, it is the little people of America who will be on the hook to pay for what is essentially another government gift to the armaments industry.