After a decade of US plans to meet Iranian missile threats, and despite Russian threats still in place, on Thursday, a missile shield was erected in Romania after billions of dollars invested in attempts to address Russian concerns. US Mission to NATO Robert G. Bell ensured that the US had the capacity to defend Europe and that Iran had been developing its missile capabilities. Russia is not a target for missile shield, he added.
Payman Yazdani of Mehr News International Service asked Professor Arthur Cyr about the possible impact of the missile shield on regional politics; can the deployment of anti-missile shield in Romania by the US be interpreted in line with NATO tendency to develop toward East? How will this affect Russian and Iranian national security? And will Britain's possible exit from EU affect the NATO? Yazdani asked Cyr.
My own view is that deployment of anti-missile systems in and around Europe is primarily a diplomatic and deterrence move, prompted by Russia's annexation of Crimea, and poorly-masked aggression in Ukraine and earlier in Georgia. By definition, these are defensive weapons and therefore to not directly threaten the national security of Iran, Russia or anyone else. As for Britain leaving the EU, such a move would indirectly reinforce the importance of NATO. British withdrawal would also further strengthen the already growing diplomatic and strategic influence of Germany and Russia, he responded briefly.
Arthur I. Cyr is the director of the A.W. Clausen Center for World Business at Carthage. He had served as president of the Chicago World Trade Center Association, the vice president of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a faculty member and administrator at UCLA, and an executive at the Ford Foundation in the International and Education Divisions.
By Mehr News Agency
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