source: russia-insider.com
By Rob Slane

Back in 2007, Vladimir Putin made what was probably the most important international speech of the 21st Century so far at the 43rd Munich Security Conference. His main theme was that attempts to create a unipolar world with one country dominating and policing the globe were not only morally wrong, but also doomed to failure:

“However, what is a unipolar world? However one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making. It is a world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.”

In the Q&A session after the speech, he warned that the decision of the United States to pull out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002, which had been the fundamental basis for international security for 30 years, and their subsequent attempts to create a global missile defence shield, was not only a threat to Russia, which would inevitably have to respond, but by implication to the whole world:

“Plans to expand certain elements of the anti-missile defence system to Europe cannot help but disturb us. Who needs the next step of what would be, in this case, an inevitable arms race? I deeply doubt that Europeans themselves do…

But what do we know? That the United States is actively developing and already strengthening an anti-missile defence system. Today this system is ineffective but we do not know exactly whether it will one day be effective. But in theory it isUnited States is actively developing and already strengthening an anti-missile defence system. Today this system is ineffective but we do not know exactly whether it will one day be effective. But in theory it is being created for that purpose. So hypothetically we recognise that when this moment arrives, the possible threat from our nuclear forces will be completely neutralised. Russia’s present nuclear capabilities, that is. The balance of powers will be absolutely destroyed and one of the parties will benefit from the feeling of complete security. This means that its hands will be free not only in local but eventually also in global conflicts.

We are discussing this with you now. I would not want anyone to suspect any aggressive intentions on our part. But the system of international relations is just like mathematics. There are no personal dimensions. And of course we should react to this. How? Either the same as you and therefore by building a multi-billion dollar anti-missile system or, in view of our present economic and financial possibilities, by developing an asymmetrical answer. So that everybody can understand that the anti-missile defence system is useless against Russia because we have certain weapons that easily overcome it. And we are proceeding in this direction. It is cheaper for us. And this is in no way directed against the United States themselves.”

I imagine that this was the subject of much mirth in Washington. “What exactly are they going to do? An economic basket case with rust-bucket armed forces versus the richest and most powerful nation on the planet? And they think they can match us and respond to what we can do? Ha! Give me a break!” And so just as they ignored Russian protests when they reneged on previous agreements and started moving NATO towards Russia’s borders, so they chose to ignore these warnings too, continuing on a path that has since seen the installation of anti-ballistic missile interceptors in South Korea, Romania and Poland.

On March 1st 2018, they finally got their answer.

Towards the end of his State of the Union address, Mr Putin gave what might well be described as Munich 2.0, where he outlined the response he had promised back then would come as a result of the US tearing up the ABM Treaty and pursuing their ambitions for unipolar, global hegemony. What he described were six new weapons systems, which are frankly technologically and militarily astonishing:

• A 200 ton ICBM (Sarmat 2), which is equipped with hypersonic nuclear warheads, which has practically no range restrictions and which can evade all known missile defence systems.
• Low flying stealth missiles that can be fitted with small-scale heavy-duty nuclear energy units, meaning that they have a practically unlimited range, and together with their ability to bypass interception boundaries cannot be stopped by any missile defence systems.
• Unmanned, nuclear-powered submersible vehicles that operate at extreme depths, are silent, can travel at speeds far in excess of submarines, and which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
• The Kinzhal [dagger], a hypersonic (Mach 10), high-precision aircraft missile system, with a range of 2,000 kilometres, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, and alter its flight trajectory, again making it impervious to anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems.
• The Avangard hypersonic weapons system (Mach 20), which can manoeuvre during travel, both laterally and vertically, and so again is invulnerable to any existing air or missile defence system.
• Unspecified laser weapons, which the Russian army is apparently already armed with.

Those who want some detailed analysis on these systems can find them here, here, and here. I would just add that despite the best efforts of the dutiful stenographers in what passes for the Western press to pass it all off as bluff and bluster, I would imagine that in the Pentagon they will even now be trying to deal with aftereffects of the shock and awe treatment they have just received.

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