>From: "Chris Doss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Subject: [Iskra] The Target is Russia >>Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:45:20 EDT >> >>A former US missile scientist has published an article alleging that the >>real targets of the National Missile Defence (NMD), which is due to be >>deployed soon by the Americans, are not the so-called "rogue states" (North >>Korea etc) as Clinton has claimed, but Russia and China. >> >>The full text was passed to me by ISWoR supporter Francis Krause, and can >>be >>found online at >>http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/2000/ma00/ma00postol.html >> >>Although ISWoR-org list is generally for co-ordination of practical work >>rather than theoretical debate, I make an exception here by posting this >>material because of the seriousness of its implications. >> >>Below I quote a few extracts from the article: >> >>"..if the proposed national missile defense system is to be aimed >>principally >>at North Korean missiles, why is the United States deploying a radar that >>is >>ideally suited for gathering intelligence for such a system on the northern >>tip of Norway, less than 40 miles from the Russian border?" >> >>"The Russians and the Chinese also understand that the administration's >><limited> defense is in fact a system that is indistinguishable from one >>aimed at them. They correctly understand the full technical implications of >>the administration's proposed battle-management upgrades of early warning >>radars....These upgrades are exactly those that would be needed for a >>national missile defense system aimed at Russia and China...." >> >>"[In Oct 1999]...I was told by several [Russian] government officials about >>a >>meeting in Beijing, from which they had just returned. .. The purpose of >>the >>meeting was to begin Russian and Chinese political and technical >>co-operation >>to deal with the threat of a US National Missile Defense system. >> >>"George N. Lewis, John Pike and I published an article in the August 1999 >>issue of the Scientific American, which attempted to show that the proposed >>US National missile defense system could be defeated by the simplest of >>countermeasures. I personally know missile experts in Russia and China, and >>they agree. >> >>"A US decision to deploy will nevertheless result in a strong negative, >>co-ordinated, and unequivocal reaction from Russia and China. This is >>because >>there will be constant concerns that the United states may eventually >>expand >>and modify the defense with nuclear-armed interceptors instead of the >>pitiful >>hit-to-kill interceptors now planned for the system. >> >>"A modified and expanded nuclear system could also be readily defeated, but >>the Russians and Chinese would have to dedicate more resources to the task. >>Most important: They might want to expand their offensive capability, >>following the Nuclear Age dictum that a good offense beats any defense." >> >>"...Thus a decade after the end of the Cold War, the Clinton administration >>has put us on the path to a new arms race and a breakdown of the entire >>international system of treaties that has been built over the past 30 >>years. >> >>"It is bad enough if the administration simply does not understand what it >>is >>doing. It is even worse if it does." >> >>Theodore A. Postol, in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Mar-Apr >>2000.http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/2000/ma00/ma00postol.html >> >> >>This fits in with political developments of the past two years or so. The >>1998 economic crisis impoverished Russians and led to a mass recognition >>that >>the western-imposed privatisation process was responsible. Unfortunately >>what >>could have become a mass rebellion against capitalism is now being diverted >>into a simple anti-Americanism, accompanied by a dangerous chauvinistic >>ultranationalism. This is because the severe punitive conditions dictated >>by >>the IMF after the crisis, as well as the potential threat of mass >>working-class uprising, has led much of Russia's elite to feel they must >>now >>carve their road to capitalist power independently from the US. >> >>Its clear that if we are not able to quickly build a workers >>internationalism >>strong enough to combat the lies of the war-mongering capitalist elites on >>both sides, the nightmare we narrowly managed to escape in the twentieth >>century could well occur at the beginning of the twenty-first. >> >>Lisa Taylor >>International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWoR) >>pc >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>Remember four years of good friends, bad clothes, explosive chemistry >>experiments. >>http://click.egroups.com/1/4051/1/_/673290/_/958131934/ >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >>KARL MARX "The emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the >>working class itself ... it is also the emancipation of all human beings >>without distinction of race or sex." >> > >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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