-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 15, 2007 5:52:46 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Russia, "Free Again"
Gorbachev: Russia's Suspension of Arms Treaty Justified
Voice of America, 15 July 2007
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-15-voa25.cfm
Mikhail Gorbachev (file photo)
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says Russia's decision to
suspend participation in a major European arms treaty is an
"absolutely logical" move.
Mr. Gorbachev signed the original Conventional Forces in Europe
treaty - a key Cold War-era agreement with the United States and
NATO - in 1990.
The treaty was revised in 1999, after the Warsaw Pact communist
alliance was dissolved, but neither the United States nor NATO's
members have ratified those changes. Mr. Gorbachev tells Russia's
Interfax news agency it would be "incomprehensible" for Moscow to
abide by the treaty under those circumstances.
U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in central Europe are widely
seen as the major factor behind Russia's treaty suspension. Mr.
Gorbachev, however, says Russia wants to save the treaty, by
reopening talks on the accord.
The United States, NATO and the European Union all have said they
are disappointed by Mr. Putin's suspension of the treaty.
Mr. Putin hinted at such action earlier this year and linked the
treaty issue to the U.S. missile plan. Official announcement of the
Kremlin decree on Saturday in Moscow did not mention the missile
proposal, but a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the
decision was based NATO's failure to ratify the 1999 revision.
The conventional-forces treaty put specific limits on the number of
tanks, heavy artillery and fighter jets that could be deployed in
Europe or western Russia -- from the Atlantic Coast to the Ural
Mountains -- and the original version is credited for major
reductions in military hardware in the region after 1992.
The United States and its NATO allies refused to ratify the revised
treaty in 1999 after Russia refused to withdraw troops it has
stationed in the former Soviet republics, including Georgia and
Moldova.
-------------------
No defence against missiles
The Guardian (UK), July 16, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2127232,00.html
The current fad of tearing up vital arms-control agreements was
started by America when it abrogated the anti-ballistic missile
treaty in order to build its missile shield.
Russia followed suit on Saturday by announcing that it would
suspend its obligations under the conventional forces in Europe
(CFE) treaty. If the trend continues, the intermediate-range
nuclear forces treaty could be next. And then Europe, freshly
liberated from the Cold-War threat of instant extinction, will be
bristling with missiles.
The US will have its missile interceptor base in Poland and a long-
range radar in the Czech Republic that can direct a missile on to a
target anywhere in Russia. To counter that, Russia will deploy long-
range Iskander missiles in its enclave in Kaliningrad, behind the
line of the Baltic states and right on the Polish border. Heavy
tanks will once again roam the forests of Germany and central
Russia, just like the good old days.
Does this sound insane on a continent which has said goodbye to
war? It may, but it could come to pass. For all the touchy-feely
togetherness that Vladimir Putin and George Bush indulged in at
their recent "lobster" summit in Maine, both leaders continue to
send each other messages of a more traditional kind. Mr Bush is
intent on pushing ahead with missile defence plans come what may,
and is finalising an agreement with the Polish president Lech
Kaczynski today.
Mr Putin has made it crystal clear that if there is no compromise
on missile defence, Russia is prepared to carry out its threat to
point its missiles at Europe again.
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