re: #540 Coracle

There’s a whole thread on the missile shield downstairs. The “abandoning allies” claim is BS.

The idea that we are replacing - on the recommendation of the US joint chiefs and other internal military assessment - the earlier proposed shield with ship-based Standards and Aegis - both more nimble and more demonstrably effective - and expanding shield coverage to include Israel - means that the US has more control over a better defense net. That it annoys some countries who stood to benefit from US installations on their soil is both inevitable to any change of plans, and immaterial - they’ll be happy with the protection even if they grumble about the lost US installed infrastructure.

Exactly. And that US installed and paid for infrastructure was well within range of Russian short range missiles that the system had absolutely (read: 0% kill chance) no chance of stopping. The Aegis system is proven, its mounted on a system we can actually defend (ships) and doesn’t tie us into Eastern European politics that can and often does change at the drop of a hat.