Geopolitical implications of missile defense

A pair of articles released today discussing U.S. Missile Defense plans raise some interesting arguments about U.S. plan for missile defense in Europe. Gordon Cucullu's article in the New York Post primarily discusses the threat from Iran and North Korea and potential options for solving the dilemmas.  Finding strikes with European support one of the few available options for the former and Chinese involvement perhaps the only way to deal with the latter, the article concludes, "In the likely event that President Obama flinches at the prospect of such actions, he'd better rethink his opposition to missile defense. We're going to need it."  An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal expands the case for missile defense as an important signal of American geopolitical strength.  Particularly in the wake of the recent satellite launch (and Russian closing of supply routes through Kyrgyzstan), the op-ed argues that shelving missile defense now would signal weakness to Iran, Russia, and our security commitments to friends and allies in Europe. The coming cuts in defense spending thanks to the resource-constrained environment place missile defense as one of the prominent issues to be dealt with.  The scientific analysis of the technological capability of the system will play an important role in informing Obama and Biden's decision.  According to Cucullu, "Stunned critics watched recent tests at Vandenberg Air Fore base where "hitting a bullet with a bullet" proved to be well within the capability of USAF scientists." Whether these technological advances are considered sufficient to keep the system will remain to be seen.