-Caveat Lector- Saturday, 3 February, 2001, 09:16 GMT US confronts 'Star Wars' fears The new US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has strongly defended American plans for new missile defences as he arrived in Europe to meet critics of the system for the first time. He said the rest of the world had nothing to fear. Mr Rumsfeld was speaking on his way to the German city of Munich where he is meeting his European counterparts for their annual conference on security policy. They know... that the systems that are being discussed are not in any way relevant to the Russians' [nuclear force] US defence chief Donald Rumsfeld He dismissed suggestions that the programme - nicknamed "Son of Star Wars" - was a threat to arms control. But Russia and China both oppose the plan, and many western European countries have considerable misgivings about it. The BBC defence correspondent, Jonathan Marcus, says there is also concern about the possible direction that the new Bush administration will take with regard to its allies. He says President George W Bush and his team are suspected of being less understanding than the Clinton administration was about the EU's efforts to craft its own defence identity. In his first interview since taking office, Mr Rumsfeld tried to ease NMD fears, arguing that the system envisaged by the Bush administration was too limited to threaten the deterrent value of Russia's large nuclear force. 'Damaging relations' "That doesn't threaten anyone. It just doesn't," he told reporters travelling with him from Washington. He said he had only started assessing the programme and did not plan to go into detail about it in Munich. Tests on the system failed last July Mr Rumsfled has also dismissed suggestions that the programme would contravene the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which is one of the cornerstones of superpower arms control. He said it was an "open question" whether Washington would seek to modify the ABM treaty in discussions with Russia, implying that it might opt to withdraw from the treaty instead. Russia has said NMD deployment would do irreparable damage to the architecture of international relations. But Mr Rumsfeld dismissed these objections. "The idea that a missile defence system that is capable of dealing with handfuls of (missiles) is going to change in any way the interaction between the US and Russia with respect to ballistic missiles is just not correct," he said on Saturday. He said it was time to get over what he described as Cold War thinking. The defence chief is scheduled to hold private meetings with several of his Nato counterparts, including the defence ministers of the UK, Germany and Italy. Correspondents say European ministers are concerned about the possibility the US might withdraw troops from peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia. And they say the ministers will also want to hear the Bush administration's view of the EU's recently agreed rapid-reaction force. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
