A "good" arms race

Yes, the title seems to be an oxymoron. How can an arms race be good? Simple, when the weapon system doesn't threaten the other party.

During the Cold War, the US and USSR had a nuclear arms race and each side got more and more ICBM and SLBMs, and those missiles were pointed at each other. Both countries were threatening each other.

Now Russia is saying they will deploy their own new ballistic missile defense (BMD) system. I say wonderful. Please do and if you say your doing it because the US is deploying one to Eastern Europe, great.

Why is this good? Well a BMD system by itself can't hurt another country. It may modify their behavior, but it won't hurt them. No BMD system could stop a large determined ICBM attack, so the Russian and US missiles could still destroy each other, even though both sides only have about 1,000 of them now (compared to about 25,000 back in the 1980s).

But the BMD system will do wonders for stopping a limited attack by nations like Iran, North Korea etc. These nations can't produce large numbers of missiles so the BMD system will protect Russia and won't threaten Eastern Europe, the US or anyone else.

Besides, Russia knows radical Islamic groups do not like it even if Russia is supplying most of the weapons to Iran which gives it to other groups who give it to terrorists. Those groups (or Iran) have a long range missile, Russia is as likely a target as Europe or the US, so a BMD system protecting the country is a good idea.

Hat tip Lucianne.com