Ted, what can I say?  I apologise for attacking the programme without having watched it.  Sorry Newsnight!  I unfairly besmirched you, sez Ted!

May I ask what reason was given for the siting and how that was dealt with by the journalists?  Would it be rude if I asked how much time, as a percentage of the complete item, this took up?  You see my starting point--the reason I didn't continue watching; I mean I actively turned it off so as not to watch any more--was an underlying assumption (which maybe wasn't there and only demonstrates my prejudices) that the worst a U.S. base in Europe could be for us europeans was "neutral"; whereas the worst thing we might get from the russians was nuclear oblivion.  Which seemed so painfully slanted...I wanted to know: Why are those bases being placed there?  And I didn't just want to hear the "official" reasons.  I mean, how would I understand Putin's statements without a clear idea of what the story is behind this it-seemed-to-me nonsense about Iran and North Korea?  And from my recent experiences with Newsnight I felt...nah, they won't get into that...so if I was wrong about that, I apologise and good for them and good for me because BBC news is more interesting than I gave it credit for: I'll watch more next time maybe.

So, I apologise and would like to know what you discovered from the programme about the "U.S. places missiles in Europe" side of the story.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.