Russian politics, policy-making and American missile defence

American policy-makers continue to struggle with Russia's intensely negative reaction to the proposed ballistic missile defence (BMD) deployments in Central Europe. As Russian president, Vladimir Putin denounced the plans for missile defence put forward by US president George W. Bush. Putin's successor, Dmitry Medvedev, greeted the election of Barack Obama by threatening to target the proposed BMD facility in Poland with new missiles. All American assurances that the proposed deployment is a limited one, designed for defence against Iran, appear to have been wasted on the Russians