----- Original Message ----- From: SolidNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 7:44 PM Subject: Morning Star, Speak out over NMD SolidNet The purpose of the Solid Net ( Solidarity Network ) is to inform on the activities as well as the ideological and political views of different Communist and Workers’ Parties on National and International issues. All articles in the SolidNet are the responsibility of the authors and in no way commit this Web Site. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] , http://www.solidnet.org ================================================================== Morning Star, Speak out over NMD ---------------------------------------- From: Morning Star, 5 February 2001 http://www.poptel.org.uk/morning-star , mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================== 5 February 2001 Speak out over NMD NATO states made clear the very sharp divisions that exist between them at the annual Munich security conference at the weekend. Republican Senator John McCain exemplified the stance of President George W Bush in seeing NATO as a US-led alliance or nothing. President Bush has committed himself to the national missile defence 'son of Star Wars' plan and will brook no opposition from European members of NATO, to say nothing of Russia and China. And despite lip-service paid to NATO, Germany and France would prefer to rely on their rapid reaction force European Army to enforce their ambitions inside and outside Europe. They know that the battle for markets on a global scale will pit US transnationals against their EU counterparts and that, in the scramble for scarce resources, Europeans would not be able to count on the US-led alliance to protect their interests if they conflicted with Washington's priorities. German conservative Karl Lamers was quite correct to describe the national missile defence project as a US 'dream of invulnerability.' Whether it is also 'futile,' as Mr Lamers added, is open to debate, although the fact that the Bush administration will devote $5 billion this year alone to investigating its dream illustrates that it is payback time for the defence industry companies that bankrolled his election campaign. And since the US military-industrial complex benefited from about $60 billion in the original Star Wars search for a dream, it must be rubbing its hands in anticipation of another government-dispensed bonanza. What is equally beyond doubt is that the national missile defence plan is banned under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which was agreed by the US and the Soviet Union. Today's non-existence of the Soviet Union invalidates in no way the international treaty that it was instrumental in drawing up. Russia, as the internationally recognised successor to the Soviet Union, will not agree to any rewriting of the ABM treaty and opposes its unilateral abrogation by Washington. Similarly, China is alarmed by suggestions that the US will extend its national missile defence umbrella to Taiwan, effectively interfering in internal Chinese affairs. Even though the US has not elaborated a viable system for its nuclear defence scheme, it has already said that it will offer protection to its 'friends,' but there will be a price to pay. Although the most profitable contracts will be the preserve of the US military-industrial complex, there will be scraps offered to European companies whose governments bow the knee, agreeing to recognise a Pax Americana.But far from security being on offer, it is the prospect of a renewed arms race, as those states that see themselves pencilled in as potential enemies or rogue states take steps to develop their own military potential. The British government's position is abysmal, refusing to come clean on its support for national missile defence, although US use of monitoring facilities at Fylingdales and Menwith Hill would put Britain in the firing line. The labour movement must speak out against this scheme which wastes resources and destabilises world peace. *End*
