Russia To U.S.: 'Come To Your Senses' Before New Arms Race Begins

"Come To Your Senses!" Russia Slams Trump's Space-Based Missile Defense Plans

After what many are describing as Trump's attempted channeling of Reagan's 'Star Wars' program with Thursday's unveiling of a missile defense strategy heavily focused on space as "the next war-fighting domain", Moscow has issued a predictably harsh rebuke, calling the newly published US Missile Defense Review (MDR) "openly confrontational" and a danger to global stability and peace. 

Warning that Washington's missile defense strategy could restart the Cold War-era arms race, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday accused the White House of seeking to weaponize space while removing any limitations to development. Indeed President Trump did appear to reaffirm his controversial decision to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia during his remarks at the Pentagon Thursday affirming, “We are committed to establishing a missile defense program that can shield every city in the United States and we will never negotiate away our right to do this.”

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced, “We would like to note that the very same logic served as the foundation of the widespread nuclear missile race that brought the world to the brink of disaster multiple times.” The statement added that US defense planners “apparently decided to step on the same rake, with predictable consequences,” in reference to 20th century nuclear brinkmanship. 

But Moscow fired back that the plan “practically gives the green light to deploying elements with strike capability in space,” which will “inevitably lead to an arms race in space, which would have the worst kind of consequences for international security and stability,” according to the Foreign Ministry statement. 

The statement further urged Washington to “come to its senses” and abandon any restart of a new ‘Star Wars’ program, first proposed under the Reagan administration.  It described that the opposite of global stability and peace would be the outcome, as any weaponization of space would result in a “heavy blow to international stability, which is already falling apart thanks to irresponsible actions by Washington.” The statement concluded, “Obviously, no one wins in this scenario.”