The warmongers on the Hill led by John McCain are already screaming bloody murder about 44's correct decision to scrap the unworkable and destabilizing missile shield for Eastern Europe. Of course the hawks are characterizing the decision as a capitulation to the neo-Soviets in the Kremlin, but it is actually a realization by the Pentagon that the Navy's ship based Aegis is an existing, superior system which actually has a chance of knocking down Iran's medium range ballistic missiles before they reach central Europe. The Russians consistently viewed the ground based ABM system as an escalation of the arms race {Back to the Future, 8.27.08}. Defense Secretary Gates chided the professional alarmists in his NY Times op-ed as having a faith in missile defense bordering on "theology". Although the Americans would never admit that Russian objections played a role in the decision not to go ahead with the ground launch system based in Poland and the Czech Republic--44 said the Russians were "paranoid" about it--the decision has brought a favorable response from Russia which announced it will scrap plans to install Iskander short range missiles in its Kalinigrad enclave that borders Poland and Lithuania. President Medvedev told CNN that chances are high the US and Russia will be able to reach agreement on replacing the START I arms control treaty signed in 1991 and due to expire in December.[USS Decatur launches an SM-3, part of the Aegis fleet defense system, courtesy Milcom Monitoring Post]