START I Ends With Russian Missile Tests

Posted on December 13, 2009
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So, while most people and MSM outlets, including Fox, have been distracted by health care reform, cap and trade issues, a premature awarding of a peace prize and Tiger Woods, Russian strategic missile tests have been taking place, following the December 4th end of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I).

While there was some US and international reporting (here, here and here) of the failed Russian ballistic missile test which lit up the night sky over Norway on December 9th, prior to the awarding of the Peace Prize in Oslo, MSNBC reported on another test which took place over Siberia on December 10th.

The failed test on December 9th, was launched from a ballistic missile submarine in the White Sea. It was another attempted test of a new generation ICBM, with a range of 5,000 miles, dubbed the Bulava missile. The failure occurred during third stage flight, where the missile appeared to fall into a pinwheel pattern, causing some to report it as a UFO.

It is noted that this missile is under development while a new class of Russian strategic ballistic missile submarine, of the Project 955 Borey class , is in an early production phase. There are four known about, the first is already complete and is conducting sea trials, the second and third are under construction and the fourth should begin production on December 22, 2009.

The test launch on December 10th, was a ground launch of a mobile Topol ICBM (NATO SS-25).

It is amazing to me, as one that remembers the cold war, that there has been no apparent sense of urgency in the reporting. Thom, a blogger at Discover Magazine, put it best pointing out that since it wasn’t a UFO from space, only a Russian ICBM test, there is no cause for concern.