----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 11:06 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] US willing to proceed with missile shield without ABM changes STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/afp/article.html?s=singapore/headlines/0 00519/world/afp/US_willing_to_proceed_with_missile_shield_without_ABM_changes__officia l.html Friday, May 19 1:32 AM SGT US willing to proceed with missile shield without ABM changes: official WASHINGTON, May 18 (AFP) - The United States is willing to proceed with a controversial national anti-missile shield, even if it is unable to get Russian agreement on modifications to a treaty that prohibits such systems, a senior State Department official said Thursday. Overcoming vehement Russian objections to revising the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty which bans nationwide systems capable of shooting down incoming missiles will be a key issue at next month's summit between President Bill Clinton and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Clinton would not present national missile defense (NMD) as a "fait accompli" at the summit, but stressed that ultimately, the president would make a decision on deployment -- expected this fall -- based on US interests. "If we do not reach an agreement of some kind with the Russians on the changes to the ABM treaty necessary to proceed with a deployment decision ... and if the president decides ... that it is in the national interest to still go ahead with a deployment decision, he will go ahead with a deployment decision," the official told reporters. Clinton's decision will be based on four well-known criteria -- the system's cost, its technological feasibility, the extent of the missile threat to the United States from so-called "rogue states," particularly North Korea, and its impact on arms control generally. The objections of Russia, which sees NMD as a threat to itself, as well as those of China and many US allies in Europe, who fear deployment will spark a new nuclear arms race, will be factored into the fourth criteria, the official said. However, he added, "at the end of the day, the president is going to make his decision on one criterion: What is in the long-term national interest of the United States." "He alone will make that decision, he will make it on the basis of lots of factors and lots of advice and lots of views of other people, including the president of Russia," the official said. He insisted that deployment was still an open question and that opposition to NMD would be considered in determining the US national interest. "It's not a 'fait accompli,' the official maintained. Yet, he allowed that Washington had been deliberately vague in specifying how much significance US officials would give to the objections and declined to say what impact they would have on policy decisions. "Quite carefully, (the president) and everybody speaking on his behalf has not gotten into great detail on exactly how we're going to weight every consideration that will come into play." The official's comments follow those of another senior State Department official who said last week that despite objections to NMD, deployment of such a system was almost inevitable. However, that official was speaking in the context of eventually proceeding with NMD after reaching agreement with Russia at some point on changes to the ABM treaty. Copyright © 2000 AFP ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Advertisement: 15% off Ashford Collection jewelry for Mother's Day! Mom will love these gorgeous pieces handpicked by our expert jewelry buyers - now 15% off and shipped FedEx overnight FREE! Spoiled as a child? Return the favor - get her gift at Ashford.com. http://on.linkexchange.com/?ATID'&AID31 --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
