Missile Defense: The "New" US Plan on the Poland-Russia Border

New EA correspondent Cigdem Billur reports on some quiet but important missile manoeuvres in Eastern Europe:

Last year, the Obama Administration declared with great publicity that it was abandoning US plans for bases for Missile Defense in Eastern Europe. The "Star Wars" response of a satellite defense system would be replaced by a mobile system pointing towards Iran from the Persian Gulf.

Beyond the headlines, however, Washington is still planning a visible show of "defense" which concerns not Tehran but Moscow. Polish media are reporting that the US is placing a battery of Patriot missiles only 100 kilometres from the Russian border. Polish officials confirmed that the missiles will be deployed in the city of Morag, near Russia’s critical region Kaliningrad.

The Patriot system, of course, is not for high-level defense against incoming missiles. Its most famous use was the protection of Israel and Saudi Arabia from Iraqi Scud missiles in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

It remains to be seen, however, if Russia will make the distinction. Before the Obama withdrawal of the Missile Defense scheme, President Dmitri Medvedev had suggested that Russia would place Iskander (SS-26) tactical missiles on the Polish border near Kaliningrad. The step was never implemented, but could it be resurrected as a response to the Patriots?