People's Democracy

THE NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM

Pushing the Arms Race - II

N M Sundaram

(The first part of this article has been published in People’s Democracy issue dated June 17, 2007)

ABSURD ARGUMENT

Now, it is being argued that these so called defensive missiles would shoot down any nuclear missiles (from North Korea or Iran) targeted against the US as they travel in space over Europe itself, from its space defence missile bases located there!

Missiles with a range of about five to eight thousand kilometres and capable of really posing a threat to Europe, let alone the US, do not exist in any of the so-called rogue states. The Russian president Vladimir Putin called the bluff when he spoke bluntly in the Annual Security Conference at Munich, Germany on February 10, 2007. He said: "As regards [fears that] Iran has missiles that could threaten Europe, you are wrong. Iran has missiles with a range of 1,600-1,700 km. Calculate how many kilometers it is from the Iranian border to Munich." (Novosti - Russian News and Information Agency)

Vladimir Putin further exposed: “any hypothetical launch of, for example, a North Korean rocket to American territory through Western Europe obviously contradicts the laws of ballistics. As we say in Russia, it would be like using the right hand to reach the left ear.” (Ibid)

What then is the reason for such reckless militarisation of space? Who really is the target? It is clear that Russia with its rich energy resources is the target. The US does not seem bothered about the damage such a move would create in its relations with Russia and the rest of the world. It is not concerned about the destabilising consequences for the rest of the world. During the 2000 presidential campaign itself, president Bush declared that he would pursue a national missile-defense system even if it meant damaging foreign relations with Russia. He said that he would first try to amend the ABM treaty, and if needed would not hesitate to unilaterally pull out of the treaty. In the aforesaid speech in Munich, Putin cautioned Europe against falling a victim to American tactics of trying to encircle Russia as it was “fraught with new confrontation and was against the best interests of the continent” (Ibid)

FIRST UTILISATION OF BALLISTIC MISSILES

It was in 1991, the world witnessed the first utilisation of a ballistic missile and a missile defense system during the Persian Gulf War, when an American ‘Patriot missile’ intercepted and destroyed an Iraqi ‘Scud missile.’ Thus the ground work for the system was laid by George H W Bush and it is being taken to dangerous levels by his son, George W Bush.

The American Congress was pressured by the Rumsfeld Commission, to pass the National Missile Defense Act of 1999, on the pretext that many countries have started planning for long range missiles and would come to acquire them in 10 years time.

Putin pointedly accused the United States of pursuing reckless and ruinous policies in its self imposed position as the only super-power and imagining in vacuum of a unipolar world where it could dictate its hegemonistic policies. The US-led unipolar world view made the world a dangerous place to live in. “An almost unrestrained hyper-use of force in international relations" bred only conflicts fuelling “arms race, with more and more countries seeking weapons of mass destruction to defend themselves against US diktats.” America’s “unilateral, illegitimate” military actions “have not resolved even a single problem, and on the contrary, have created more human tragedies and more hotbeds of tension.” Putin warned. (Novosti)

Putin’s frontal attack on America’s aggressive policies are clearly a warning to Washington amidst mounting fears that the Pentagon was gearing for yet another war –– against Iran. However, speaking in Germany, Putin was primarily cautioning Europe against allowing NATO to push eastwards towards the Russian borders.

Putin further cautioned: "We witness growing trampling of fundamental principles of international law." … One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders to impose its laws and its entire legal system on other States in all spheres - economic, political and humanitarian. Who will like it?" …"This is very dangerous," (Ibid)

Calling it "a serious provocative factor that eroded mutual trust," Putin particularly referred to America’s missile defence system that would "give it a free hand to launch, not only local, but global conflicts." The proposed deployment of US missile interceptors in Europe to neutralise Russia's nuclear arsenals would trigger "another round of inevitable arms race,” he warned. The real answer was keeping up to commitments on weapons reduction as agreed upon and moving towards nuclear disarmament.(Ibid) It is reported that Russia has already activated a new weapons system, the Topol-M, designed to “penetrate US anti-missile defences.” (The Guardian)

If one analysed Putin’s entire speech, it would be apparent that he was not projecting Russia as a counterbalance to US unilateralism. Instead, he called for a world with many centres of influence, where different interests worked together multilaterally, to shape a common denominator on global issues.

(To be continued)