[Peace-discuss] US missiles in Europe

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Re US missile shields/first strike weapons in Europe: Why should this be a surprise?? It's just business as usual: The US gets to attack pre-emptively -- unthinkable that another country would have dared attack us just because we were about to attack Iraq/Afghanistan. No other country may occupy us. No other country monitors our elections. No other country may put their military bases in our country. No other country adopts our unwanted children. One set of rules for the U S of A, one for the rest of the world.
   --Jenifer

"C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
  [Two or three meetings ago there was a discussion at AWARE about the USG attempt 
to put a missile "defense" system in Eastern Europe. Here's an update on how 
serious the matter is, for all it's ignored in US political discussion. --CGE]


The installation of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe is, virtually, a 
declaration of war.

Simply imagine how the US would react if Russia or China or Iran or in fact any 
foreign power dared even to think about placing a missile defense system at or 
near the borders of the US, let alone carrying out such plans. In these 
unimaginable circumstances, a violent US reaction would be not only almost 
certain but also understandable, for reasons that are simple and clear.

It is well known on all sides that missile defense is a first strike weapon. 
Respected US military analysts describe missile defense as "not simply a shield 
but an enabler of U.S. action." It "will facilitate the more effective 
application of U.S. military power abroad.” “By insulating the homeland from 
reprisal, [missile defense] will underwrite the capacity and willingness of the 
United States to `shape' the environment elsewhere." "Missile defense isn't 
really meant to protect America. It's a tool for global dominance.” “Missile 
defense is about preserving America's ability to wield power abroad. It's not 
about defense. It's about offense. And that's exactly why we need it.” All 
quotes, from respected liberal and mainstream sources -- who favor developing 
the system and placing it at the remote limits of US global dominance.

The logic is simple, and well understood. A functioning missile defense system 
informs potential targets that “we will attack you as we please, and you will 
not be able to retaliate, so you cannot deter us.” The system is being marketed 
to Europeans as a defense against Iranian missiles. Even if Iran had nuclear 
weapons and long-range missiles, the chances of its using them to attack Europe 
are lower than the chances of Europe being hit by an asteroid, so if defense is 
the reason, Czech Republic should be installing a system to defend the country 
from asteroids. If Iran were to indicate even the slightest attention of such a 
move, the country would be vaporized. The system is indeed aimed at Iran, but as 
a first strike weapon. It is a component of the escalating US threats to attack 
Iran, threats that are in themselves a serious violation of the UN Charter, 
though admittedly this issue does not arise in outlaw states.

When Gorbachev agreed to allow a unified Germany to join a hostile military 
alliance, he was accepting a very severe threat to Russian security, for reasons 
too familiar to review. In return, the US government made a firm pledge not to 
expand NATO to the East. The pledge was violated a few years later, arousing 
little comment in the West, but raising the threat of military confrontation. 
So-called “missile defense” ratchets the threat of war a few notches higher. The 
“defense” it provides is to increase the threat of aggression in the Middle 
East, with incalculable consequences, and the threat of terminal nuclear war.

Over half a century ago, Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein issued an 
extraordinary appeal to the people of the world, warning them that they face a 
choice that is “stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the 
human race; or shall mankind renounce war?” Accepting a so-called “missile 
defense system” makes that choice, in favor of an end to the human race, perhaps 
in the not-too-distant future.

>From a letter to Jan Tamáš
Noam Chomsky
16.3.2008
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