|
Archived News Articles: NMD and Foreign Policy
Monday April 23, 11:39 PM
MOSCOW, April 23 (AFP) -
New Zealand Foreign and Trade Minister Phil Goff,
visiting Moscow, on Monday urged the United States to
shelve its controversial plan for a missile defense
shield.
4/26/2001 from AP: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010426/pl/bush_missile_defense_1.html
Bush Plans Missile Defense Speech
By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
Thursday April 26 6:55 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will explain his
rationale for seeking a national missile defense system
in a major address Tuesday, before sending diplomatic
teams overseas to consult with wary American allies. ...
Military officers who have discussed the
administration's defense priorities with Rumsfeld say he
has made it clear that missile defense is priority No. 1. ...
4/26/2001 from msnbc:
http://www.msnbc.com/msn/563387.asp
China blasts Bush on Taiwan
Bush says military force certainly an option over Taiwan
BEIJING, April 26 China's Foreign Ministry accused
President Bush on Thursday of heading down a "dangerous
road" with his blunt warning about America's will to
defend Taiwan.
4/26/2001 from AP:
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010426/13/int-europe-us-taiwan
Countries Refuse Taiwan Arms Sales
Updated 1:55 PM ET April 26, 2001
By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Three European governments
failed to back a U.S. pledge to supply Taiwan with
submarines after Washington agreed to sell the island
the arms needed to defend itself against China. ... the
United States no longer manufacturers the diesel-powered
subs ..... Among the more prominent manufacturers are
Italy, Germany and the Netherlands ...... the Germans
and Dutch ...came back with negative responses, and
Sweden said it, too, would not fill the order. ...
4/27/2001 from AFP:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010423/1/njgi.html
New Zealand urges US to drop plan for nuclear missile shield
4/27/2001 from msnbc:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/546843.asp?cp1=1
Forward, march ... into space
Pentagon has big plans for combat in the cosmos
By Jonathan Broder MSNBC
"...This high ground has captured the imagination of the
new administration. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
who is more enthusiastic about space than any of his
predecessors, is expected to make space-based military
operations a priority in his forthcoming strategic
review of U.S. military capabilities, Pentagon and Air
Force officials say. ...
Rumsfeld is expected to urge President Bush to declare
space a national security priority and to recommend
sweeping changes in how space programs are overseen and
funded.
"We know from history that every medium - air,
land and sea - has seen conflict," the Rumsfeld
commission argues. "Reality indicates that space will be
no different." The report calls space warfare a "virtual
certainty." ..."
4/28/2001 from the Washington File
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?
p=/products/washfile/latest&f=01042501.plt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY BY UNITED STATES
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR STRATEGIC AFFAIRS
LUCAS FISCHER BEFORE THE DANISH PARLIAMENT
FOREIGN POLICY COMMITTEE CONFERENCE ON
NMD - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GLOBAL ORDER,
COPENHAGEN, APRIL 25, 2001
"...As you know, President Bush has stated that we will
deploy missile defenses, based on the best options, at the earliest
possible date. ...
We will deploy defenses as soon as possible; therefore,
we believe that the ABM Treaty will have to be replaced,
eliminated, or changed in a fundamental way. ..."
4/28/2001 from the Washington Post:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9632-2001Apr27.html
Bush to Push Missile Shield, Nuclear Arms Cuts Next Week
By Thomas E. Ricks and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 27, 2001; Page A13
4/29/2001 from AP and also the DOD:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010429/pl/missile_defense_3.html
Sunday April 29 1:26 PM ET
Bush To Propose Missile Defense
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The missile defense favored by
President Bush - a shield of global reach rather than
covering only U.S. territory ...
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010430/10/news-missile-defense
Bush to Outline Missile Defense
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Updated 10:47 AM ET April 30, 2001
"...More than 30 scientists and missile experts who
oppose the administration's push for missile defense
planned to gather at the Capitol on Wednesday to assert
that the science of missile defense is too immature to
justify moving ahead with a project expected to costs
tens of billions of dollars...."
4/30/2001 from msnbc:
http://www.msnbc.com/msn/566639.asp
Bush to unveil missile shield plan
Opposition and risks abroad; impatience at home
By Michael Moran MSNBC
"...Sha Zukang, director of the Chinese Foreign
Ministry's Department of Arms Control and Disarmament,
told The New York Times last May that Beijing will spend
whatever necessary to ensure its arsenal is not made
irrelevant by a missile shield. ..."To defeat your
defenses we'll have to spend a lot of money, and we
don't want to do this. But otherwise, the United States
will feel it can attack anyone at any time, and that
isn't tolerable. We hope [America] will give this up. If
not, we'll be ready." ..."
4/30/2001 from The New York Times and AP:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/30/world/30MISS.html
Bush Team Vows to Speed Up Work on Missile Shield
By MICHAEL R. GORDON with STEVEN LEE MYERS
The New York Times
Monday April 30 12:00 AM EDT
"...In addressing the Danish Parliament, Mr. Fischer
said the aim of the missile defenses is to defend not
only against attacks from rogue states like Iran or Iraq
but also against accidental or unauthorized launches.
That means the defense system needs to have some
capacity to counter the launching of Russian and Chinese
missiles....
"...It is not clear when a missile defense might be
deployed or how well it might work. Conservatives have
long wanted to move quickly to breach the strict limits
that the ABM treaty sets on the testing and deployment
of antimissile systems. Their goal is to make the accord
a dead letter and put the United States on an
irreversible path toward missile defense, even if it
takes a decade or longer to develop a substantial
system. ...
"...Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told Congress
last week that when the Russian foreign minister, Igor
Ivanov, goes to Washington for talks next month, the
administration will inform him of its total commitment
to missile defense. ..."
5/1/2001 from U.S. Newswire:
http://politics.yahoo.com/politics/features/us_newswire/20015/0501-146.html
Gephardt Statement on the National Missile Defense System
WASHINGTON, May 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a
statement released today by House Democratic Leader
Richard A. Gephardt on the National Missile Defense System:
"I am concerned that the President's approach to
strategic nuclear and missile defense policy may have
the effect of undermining our nation's security rather
than enhancing it.
"By announcing his intent to move forward with as yet
unproven, costly and expansive national missile defense
systems, the President is jeopardizing an arms control
framework that has served this nation and the world well
for decades. ..."
5/1/2001 from AP:
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010501/18/news-bush-defense
MAY 01, 18:29 EST
Bush Commits U.S. to Missile Defense
By RON FOURNIER
AP White House Correspondent
"...The government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
refused to weigh in, despite a call from Bush on Monday.
In Sweden, Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said America
could trigger a new arms race. ...
Bush deployed three deputies to embassies around the
world to begin consultations.
He said it was time to ``move beyond the constraints''
of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty with Russia,
which sets strict limits on testing and deployment of
antimissile system. ...
The United States has already spent more than $100
billion to develop missile defense technologies,
beginning with the Reagan-era ``Star Wars'' campaign.
Some think Bush's approach could cost $200 billion or
more. ...
He hopes to assemble a basic system by the end of his
first term, but has set no internal deadline, said a
senior adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rumsfeld has told Bush a system could be in place by
2004, though it may not be completely effective. ..."
5/2/2001 from AP:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010502/pl/bush_defense_world_reax_8.html
World Wary About Bush Missile Plan
By JOHN IAMS, Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia on Wednesday said it is prepared to
hold new consultations with the United States on
strategic stability after President Bush's announcement
that he is committed to building a national missile
defense system. China, which along with Russia has most
vehemently opposed U.S. plans for a ballistic missile
shield, had no formal reaction to Bush's statement. But
its state-run news agency warned that the shield could
spark a new arms race. ...
5/2/2001 from msnbc and AP:
http://www.msnbc.com/msn/566639.asp
New arms race, or new security?
Several allies echo concerns about missile shield, even
as U.S. studies early deployment
MSNBC staff and wire reports
May 2 China warned Wednesday of a new arms race and
Russia of nuclear weapons instability after President
Bush announced his decision to build a shield against
missile attacks. ...
China said, "The U.S. missile defense plan has violated
the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, will destroy the
balance of international security forces and could cause
a new arms race." ...
Earlier, a senior Russian military source told the Tass
news agency that "all the effects of a breach of the
current system of international commitments in strategic
stability will be laid upon the United States if it
withdraws" from the ABM treaty. "The new U.S.
administration has set itself on the course of
destroying the whole system of strategic stability [and]
is betting on the factor of military strength in
attaining global leadership," ...
5/3/2001 The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0105/04/world/world3.html
Only Blair can see merit in missile plan
Simon Mann, Herald Correspondent in London
"Among European governments only Britain has given
anything like qualified support for Washington's missile
defence scheme. The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said
President George Bush had "set out a case which we have
to listen to", though he warned that the matter was
"highly sensitive", and more information would be needed
before Britain could make a final judgment....
European commentators complained that the US was riding
roughshod over its allies, although they said most
member states would probably bow to the plan's
inevitability and might seek to use their approval as a
lever for winning US backing for Europe's own defence
strategy, a proposed 60,000-strong Euro army. ...
Mr Blair refused to give outright support for the plan
when challenged to do so in Parliament by the opposition
Conservative Party leader, Mr William Hague. "I think it
is sensible to wait until there is a specific proposal,
to give our determination on that, recognising as we do
that the issues raised by the American administration
are real and correct to raise in respect of weapons of
mass destruction," Mr Blair said. Later, a spokesman for
Mr Blair appeared to take a firmer view. Asked if the
Government regarded missile defence as a good idea, he
replied: "Broadly, yes.''
Some senior Labour Party figures, including Mr Denis
Healey, a former defence secretary and chancellor,
raised concerns over Britain's response. "The plain fact
is it is a total waste of American money, and I can't
think why anybody with commonsense would support it," he
told the BBC. The former Conservative prime minister
Lady Thatcher also weighed in, with a ringing
endorsement of the US proposal. She told Mr Blair to
stop shilly-shallying and to promote Mr Bush's bold
vision."
NEXT Page
Previous Page
HOME
|
