US missile-defense test fails over Pacific - Reuters, 12/15/10

Review Cites Flaws in US Antimissile Program
 - NY Times

Activists in Czech Republic and Poland celebrate Obama's cancellation of missile defense plans in their countries - read

First take on Obama's missile defense rethink - Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

2/11/08: Debris spews into space after satellites collide - NY Times

11/16/08: Why Obama will continue Star Wars - Time

10/29/08: Czech gov't wants vote on missile shield after US election - Space War

10/11/08: Insider’s Projects Drained Missile-Defense Millions- NY Times

7/3/08: Lesson learned, Poles get tough over US missiles -  Yahoo! News

5/1/08: Radar, Star Wars and the Czech Republic - Z Magazine

3/3/08: The new art of war in space - Washington Post

2/25/08: US missile sheild plan nearly final, Czechs say - International Herald Tribune

2/12/08: Russia, China challenge US with proposal to ban space weapons -  Raw Story

8/6/07: British MP's demand debate on "Son of Star Wars" missile defense base - The Independent

7/26/07: Britain accepts US missile defense system - The Independent

7/17/07: Poland opposes hosting US missile defense system, poll says - Pravda

7/15/07: Russia halts participation in  arms pact for Europe -  Washington Post Foreign Service

6/11/07: New arms race underway, thanks to US missile defense plans - analysis by Bruce Gagnon, Global Network

New Bush space policy: US reserves right to do whatever it wants, opens way for space weapons (space.com, 10/7/06)

The news in recent days has been full of the controversy about U.S. plans to deploy "missile defense" interceptors and radar facilities in Eastern Europe. Russia has responded by expressing fears that the U.S. military and NATO are attempting to surround and control her. Russia has made counter suggestions saying that if the U.S. really wanted to protect itself and Europe from future Iranian missiles, then placing such facilities would be more practical in Azerbaijan. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice quickly ruled that out as an option saying, "One does not choose sites for missile defense out of the blue."

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes the case that since 9-11 the U.S. has established military bases in Central America, Romania, and Bulgaria, and has been expanding NATO into Eastern Europe with bases in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and is now attempting to create more bases in the Ukraine and Georgia. Russia is starting to feel surrounded. This is something that could never have happened during the Cold War - in fact if the U.S. had tried it would have likely caused a nuclear exchange. When the former Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles into Cuba in 1962 - the U.S.'s sphere of influence - nuclear war was barely averted.

Participants at the May 5 International Conference against the Militarization of Europe in Prague issued a declaration opposing U.S. missile defense deployments saying, "We voice our protest against the plans of the Bush administration to install a 'national missile defense system' for the U.S. on the territory of the Czech Republic and Poland. Most people in the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as in the rest of Europe, reject plans to host this system. We reject the official reasons given for the NMD project as mere pretexts. The realisation of the U.S. plan will not lead to enhanced security. On the contrary - it will lead to new dangers and insecurities.  Although it is described as 'defensive', in reality it will allow the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation. It will also put 'host' countries on the front line in future U.S. wars."

One of the first things the Bush administration did upon taking office was withdraw the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia. This treaty banned the testing and deployment of so-called "missile defense" systems. Since that U.S. withdrawal, Bush has aggressively moved to fund and deploy the technologies that will give the U.S. first-strike capability of any other nuclear power. As we witnessed with the 2003 U.S. preemptive attack on Iraq, first-strike is now the official military doctrine of the U.S.

Putin recognizes this new twist when he recently said, "Once the missile defense system is put in place it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the U.S. It will be an integral part of the U.S. nuclear capability....An arms race is unfolding. Was it we who withdrew from the ABM Treaty? We already told [Bush] two years ago, don't do this, you don't need to do this. What are you doing? You are destroying the system of international security....Of course, we have to respond to it."

Putin is obviously referring to current Bush plans to deploy "missile defense" interceptors in Poland and a high-tech Star Wars radar facility in the Czech Republic. The Bush team says these facilities are intended to protect against Iranian missiles but all one has to do is look at a map of the region and see that the real target is Russia.

Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the economy of Russia fell apart and the standard of living dropped substantially. But in recent years, due in large part to oil exploration inside Russia which now surpasses the daily oil output of Saudi Arabia, Russia's economy is growing again and the standard of living improving. Russia has become the world's largest producer of natural gas.

Russia has announced that four of its largest oil fields will not be open to foreign development and its national treasury has begun to convert Russia's dollar reserves into gold and rubles. None of these steps has been well received in the banking centers of Washington or London.

As fossil fuels become scarce worldwide, the U.S. and British banking and oil corporation elites have developed an international strategy to take control of remaining supplies. This is manifest in the present U.S. and UK occupation of Iraq and U.S. permanent bases in Central Asia - a key region for pipelines to move Caspian Sea resources south for shipment in the Asian-Pacific region.

But Russia and China do not accept the notion of the U.S. becoming the "master" of the planet. Already the U.S. Space Command has declared that it will be the master of space and will develop the offensive space weapons technologies to "deny" other countries access to space. Pentagon operatives have said that international treaties will restrict the U.S. ability to take unilateral and preemptive military action globally.

The U.S. secret military budget, the "black budget", is now estimated to be about $60 billion per year and is mostly funding high-tech space weapons. Even Congress is not provided information on how the Pentagon is spending these funds. A reporter at the weapons industry publication, Jane's Defense Weekly, did a research project on the secret budget architecture and suggests it came to the U.S. by Nazi scientists brought to the U.S. after World War II under the classified "Operation Paperclip."

On May 31 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the U.S. favors a protracted troop presence in Iraq similar to the one in South Korea. Gates told reporters that he is thinking of "a mutual agreement" with Iraq in which "some force of Americans . . . is present for a protracted period of time, but in ways that are protective of the sovereignty of the host government." Gates said such a long-term U.S. presence would assure allies in the Middle East that the U.S. will not withdraw from Iraq as it did from Vietnam, "lock, stock and barrel."

Highly respected former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was quoted in April as saying that deployment of U.S. missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic is an attempt by the U.S. to control Europe. "It is all about influence and domination in Europe," Gorbachev said. Asked how Russia could respond to these plans, he only said: "Time will show."

One Russian political analyst puts it more directly. ''Hitler was striving for global domination, and the United States is striving for global domination now,'' Sergei Markov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Research recently told The Associated Press.

''Hitler thought he was above the League of Nations, and the United States thinks it is above the United Nations. Their action is similar... only the United States now is claiming global exclusiveness,'' Markov said.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog)

The news in recent days has been full of the controversy about U.S. plans to deploy "missile defense" interceptors and radar facilities in Eastern Europe. Russia has responded by expressing fears that the U.S. military and NATO are attempting to surround and control her. Russia has made counter suggestions saying that if the U.S. really wanted to protect itself and Europe from future Iranian missiles, then placing such facilities would be more practical in Azerbaijan. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice quickly ruled that out as an option saying, "One does not choose sites for missile defense out of the blue."

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes the case that since 9-11 the U.S. has established military bases in Central America, Romania, and Bulgaria, and has been expanding NATO into Eastern Europe with bases in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and is now attempting to create more bases in the Ukraine and Georgia. Russia is starting to feel surrounded. This is something that could never have happened during the Cold War - in fact if the U.S. had tried it would have likely caused a nuclear exchange. When the former Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles into Cuba in 1962 - the U.S.'s sphere of influence - nuclear war was barely averted.

Participants at the May 5 International Conference against the Militarization of Europe in Prague issued a declaration opposing U.S. missile defense deployments saying, "We voice our protest against the plans of the Bush administration to install a 'national missile defense system' for the U.S. on the territory of the Czech Republic and Poland. Most people in the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as in the rest of Europe, reject plans to host this system. We reject the official reasons given for the NMD project as mere pretexts. The realisation of the U.S. plan will not lead to enhanced security. On the contrary - it will lead to new dangers and insecurities.  Although it is described as 'defensive', in reality it will allow the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation. It will also put 'host' countries on the front line in future U.S. wars."

One of the first things the Bush administration did upon taking office was withdraw the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia. This treaty banned the testing and deployment of so-called "missile defense" systems. Since that U.S. withdrawal, Bush has aggressively moved to fund and deploy the technologies that will give the U.S. first-strike capability of any other nuclear power. As we witnessed with the 2003 U.S. preemptive attack on Iraq, first-strike is now the official military doctrine of the U.S.

Putin recognizes this new twist when he recently said, "Once the missile defense system is put in place it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the U.S. It will be an integral part of the U.S. nuclear capability....An arms race is unfolding. Was it we who withdrew from the ABM Treaty? We already told [Bush] two years ago, don't do this, you don't need to do this. What are you doing? You are destroying the system of international security....Of course, we have to respond to it."

Putin is obviously referring to current Bush plans to deploy "missile defense" interceptors in Poland and a high-tech Star Wars radar facility in the Czech Republic. The Bush team says these facilities are intended to protect against Iranian missiles but all one has to do is look at a map of the region and see that the real target is Russia.

Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the economy of Russia fell apart and the standard of living dropped substantially. But in recent years, due in large part to oil exploration inside Russia which now surpasses the daily oil output of Saudi Arabia, Russia's economy is growing again and the standard of living improving. Russia has become the world's largest producer of natural gas.

Russia has announced that four of its largest oil fields will not be open to foreign development and its national treasury has begun to convert Russia's dollar reserves into gold and rubles. None of these steps has been well received in the banking centers of Washington or London.

As fossil fuels become scarce worldwide, the U.S. and British banking and oil corporation elites have developed an international strategy to take control of remaining supplies. This is manifest in the present U.S. and UK occupation of Iraq and U.S. permanent bases in Central Asia - a key region for pipelines to move Caspian Sea resources south for shipment in the Asian-Pacific region.

But Russia and China do not accept the notion of the U.S. becoming the "master" of the planet. Already the U.S. Space Command has declared that it will be the master of space and will develop the offensive space weapons technologies to "deny" other countries access to space. Pentagon operatives have said that international treaties will restrict the U.S. ability to take unilateral and preemptive military action globally.

The U.S. secret military budget, the "black budget", is now estimated to be about $60 billion per year and is mostly funding high-tech space weapons. Even Congress is not provided information on how the Pentagon is spending these funds. A reporter at the weapons industry publication, Jane's Defense Weekly, did a research project on the secret budget architecture and suggests it came to the U.S. by Nazi scientists brought to the U.S. after World War II under the classified "Operation Paperclip."

On May 31 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the U.S. favors a protracted troop presence in Iraq similar to the one in South Korea. Gates told reporters that he is thinking of "a mutual agreement" with Iraq in which "some force of Americans . . . is present for a protracted period of time, but in ways that are protective of the sovereignty of the host government." Gates said such a long-term U.S. presence would assure allies in the Middle East that the U.S. will not withdraw from Iraq as it did from Vietnam, "lock, stock and barrel."

Highly respected former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was quoted in April as saying that deployment of U.S. missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic is an attempt by the U.S. to control Europe. "It is all about influence and domination in Europe," Gorbachev said. Asked how Russia could respond to these plans, he only said: "Time will show."

One Russian political analyst puts it more directly. ''Hitler was striving for global domination, and the United States is striving for global domination now,'' Sergei Markov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Research recently told The Associated Press.

''Hitler thought he was above the League of Nations, and the United States thinks it is above the United Nations. Their action is similar... only the United States now is claiming global exclusiveness,'' Markov said.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog)

 Russia Halts Participation In Arms Pact For EuropeSuspension Seen as Response To U.S. Missile Defense Plan

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, July 15, 2007

MOSCOW, July 14 -- Russia on Saturday formally suspended its participation in a conventional arms treaty dating from the last years of the Cold War that limits NATO and Russian military deployments in Europe.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the 1990 pact was suspended "due to exceptional circumstances in relation to the treaty's content that affect the security of the Russian Federation and require immediate measures."

Russia previously had threatened the move because of its opposition to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Eastern Europe to ward off a potential threat from Iran. Russian officials regard the project as unnecessary because they believe that Iran is many years from developing long-range missiles. And, more critically, military officials here believe the system can -- and probably will -- be used by the United States to peer deep into Russian territory.

Suspension of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty will deepen the country's strained relations with its immediate neighbors in Eastern Europe. Russia can now move more tanks and other heavy weapons to its western borders, and officials in Poland, Estonia and other neighboring countries quickly said they deplored the suspension.

But political and military analysts said major redeployments are unlikely. The suspension, they said, was both a symbolic expression of Russian anger over missile defense and a demonstration that the country has returned as an assertive power that must be reckoned with.

NATO called Russia's decision a "disappointing step in the wrong direction." "NATO considers this treaty to be an important cornerstone of European security," said James Appathurai, a spokesman for the alliance.

The White House expressed its disappointment with the Russians. But Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement, "we'll continue to have discussions with them in the coming months on the best way to proceed in this area -- that is in the interest of all parties involved and provides for security in Europe."

Relations between the United States and Russia continue to slide despite a recent attempt at mitigating the tension when President Bush invited President Vladimir Putin to the summer home of Bush's parents in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Besides the missile defense system, the two countries disagree on the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo and how severely the international community should react to Iran's nuclear program.

The Kremlin is also deeply hostile to the prospect of countries such as Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO following the accession of Baltic and Eastern European countries. Officials here describe NATO expansion as an aggressive encirclement of Russia and an attempt to isolate the country in its natural sphere of influence.

There is a widespread view here that the United States, which has consistently criticized the pace of Russia's democratic development under Putin, wants to undermine the country's newfound self-confidence in its status as a booming energy superpower. Putin's decision is likely to be viewed not just as a snub of the West, but as further proof that the Russian president has restored the country's ability to assert its independence.

In Russia, the move drew applause from across the political spectrum.

"Russia can't just twiddle its thumbs when it sees the Americans taking root in the Baltic and Caucasus countries and strengthening their positions in East European countries," Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party, told the Russian news agency Interfax. "When NATO's steam engine is directed toward us, we simply must respond."

Russia has long bridled at the failure of NATO countries, including the United States, to ratify amendments to the treaty made in 1999.

The amendments, however, required Russia to withdraw troops from Moldova and Georgia, and some NATO countries refuse to act until Russia withdraws its troops from those former Soviet republics.

Western countries also argued that Russian force levels in the restive republic of Chechnya have at times not been in compliance with the treaty. The amendments would have allowed Russia to bolster its forces in southern Russia but only in return for withdrawal from Georgia and Moldova.

Russia is drawing down its forces in Georgia but charges that NATO violates the treaty because of deployments in Eastern Europe. NATO officials reject that accusation.

In April, Putin pledged to suspend the treaty, arguing that Russia was threatened by U.S. plans to place a radar system and interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland. In his annual state of the nation address that month, Putin said NATO was "building up military bases on our borders, and, more than that, they are also planning to station elements of anti-missile defense systems."

Russian officials have noted that in 2001, the Bush administration unilaterally pulled out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty because it said the pact no longer served U.S. interests.

U.S. officials thought the threat of a Russian pullout from the conventional forces treaty had eased as the two countries continued to discuss a compromise on missile defense in Europe. Before the recent summit between Putin and Bush in Kennebunkport, the Kremlin informed the United States that despite Putin's April statement, it would admit inspectors under the treaty.

But Saturday, Russia said it would end the inspection of its military installations by NATO countries after a formal notification period of 150 days. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the suspension "does not imply we are shutting the door to further dialogue."

"If today's message is ignored, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty will be next," Gleb Pavlovsky, a Kremlin political consultant, said in an interview with Interfax. "A mad arms race in the Caucasus, Caspian and Black Sea regions is underway, and it is being maintained by European and non-European countries, none of them restricted by the" treaty.