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Archived News Articles: NMD and Foreign Policy
6/12/2001 from AP: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010612/pl/congress_missile_defense_1.html
Democrats Criticize Missile Defense
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday June 12 3:25 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats on Capitol Hill condemned as
unneeded and unworkable the national missile defense
system that President Bush is trying to promote to U.S.
allies during his current tour of Europe.
While lawmakers often mute their criticisms of a
president when he is abroad, Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine,
said Tuesday the issue was too important to ignore,
``particularly when the attention of the country and the
attention of the world is focused.''
Allen joined six other House Democrats and several
anti-missile defense activist groups at a news
conference to oppose Bush's proposal as ineffective, too
expensive and a threat to national security. ``It's
based on the idea of build first, figure it out later,''
said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., a physicist. ...
6/12/2001 from AP:
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/international/bush-europe
Bush Opens First European Trip
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Updated: Tue, Jun 12 2:24 PM EDT
MADRID, Spain (AP) - President Bush opened his first
European trip on the defensive Tuesday, arguing his case
for a missile defense shield and at odds with allies
over global warming and capital punishment.
"There's so much more that unites us than divides. I
refuse to let any issue isolate America from Europe,"
Bush said. ...
Bush was still huddling with Spanish Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar at Aznar's whitewashed ranch house south of
Madrid when European Union environment ministers sent
word from Brussels, Belgium, rejecting Bush's latest
climate-change initiative as short on action and urging
Bush to back the Kyoto treaty on global warming.
"Abandoning the Kyoto Protocol would mean postponing
international action to combat climate change for years
- and we are already late. We cannot accept this," said
Environment Minister Kjell Larsson of Sweden, which
currently holds the EU presidency.
At a joint news conference with Aznar, Bush was
unyielding. He called the 1997 Kyoto agreement flawed,
"unrealistic" and not based on sound science. ...
Bush was also pressed to explain his pursuit of a
missile defense shield despite opposition among allies
who fear he will trigger a new arms race. Sounding as
much animated as agitated, Bush ran through his
arguments several times.
"Our intent is to bring stability into the world," he said. ...
6/13/2001 from AP:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010613/ts/bush_europe.html
Bush: NATO Leaders Warming to Shield
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Wednesday June 13 6:14 PM ET
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - President Bush said Wednesday
that nervous NATO leaders were warming to his missile
defense plans but suggested the United States would
pursue a high-tech shield with or without Europe's
blessing. ... Asked if he would go it alone on missile
defense, Bush said, ``I don't think we're going to have
to move ... unilaterally. I think people are coming our
way. But people know that I'm intent upon doing what I
think is the right thing in order to make the world more
peaceful.'' ...
6/14/2001 from ABC News: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010614/wl/radar_stealth_010614_1.html
China, Russia Pursuing New Stealthy Radar
By John McWethy ABCNEWS.com
Thursday June 14 07:13 PM EDT
Russia, China and U.S. and European companies are said
to be developing cutting-edge radars that might detect
America's expensive stealth aircraft much better than
conventional radar - and locate all military planes
without itself being detected. ... Conventional radar
sends out its own high-frequency signal that a pilot can
detect. The new radar simply listens to low-frequency
radio waves that are already in the atmosphere in great
profusion, from power sources such as transmitters used
for television, FM radio and cell phones. ...The
breakthrough that is making this possible is the use of
new high-speed computers to sort through the clutter of
signals, picking out those radio waves that are bouncing
off moving objects in the air. ...
(I had read a similar story about China developing this
about a year ago.)
6/14/2001 from Reuters:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010614/wl/china_summit_dc_3.html
China, Russia Join Against U.S. Missile Defense
By Jeremy Page
Thursday June 14 8:45 AM ET
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin and
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin showed a united
front on Thursday against U.S. plans to build a national
missile defense (NMD) system. ...The Shanghai Five --
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan --
and the group's new member Uzbekistan are expected to
join forces against Bush's missile defense plans as he
heads into a summit with the European Union. ``President
Putin reiterated Russia's principled position on that
matter and China stated that it will continue to support
Russia in its efforts to maintain the global
equilibrium,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu
Bangzao told a news conference. ... On NMD, Ivanov said:
``Our views on this fully coincide with China.'' ...
6/14/2001 from The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/14/world/14PREX.html
France and Germany Caution Bush on Missile Defense Plan
By FRANK BRUNI
June 14, 2001
BRUSSELS, June 13 - Leaders of the Atlantic alliance
clashed today over President Bush's challenge to three
decades of conventional wisdom about European security,
with the heads of France and Germany contradicting Mr.
Bush's declaration that there was a "new receptivity" to
his plan for a missile defense shield. ...
6/15/2001 from The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/15/world/15MISS.html
General Says Missile Shield Needs Money and Prudence
By JAMES DAO
June 15, 2001
WASHINGTON, June 14 - The head of the Pentagon's missile
defense program warned Congress today that accelerating
development of a missile shield, as President Bush has
urged, would be a mistake without meticulous planning
and a major infusion of money. ... In testimony before a
House subcommittee, the Pentagon official, Lt. Gen.
Ronald T. Kadish, ... "If we rush development
imprudently, I will guarantee that we will get
less-than-satisfactory results," General Kadish told
members of the House Subcommittee on Military Research
and Development. ...
While General Kadish was making his remarks today,
President Bush was in Europe trying to persuade the NATO
allies of the urgent need to build a ballistic missile
defense program as soon as possible to defend against
attacks from nations like Iraq, Libya and North Korea. ...
6/19/2001 from The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/18/world/18BUSH.html
News Analysis: Bush's Easygoing Words and Hard Line Actions By FRANK BRUNI
June 18, 2001
" ... It was, in Mr. Bush's stated view, a
transcontinental listening tour, the beginning of
"consultations" - a word he used time and again - that
would embrace all the important issues and carry through
the duration of his presidency. And yet he had abandoned
the Kyoto accord on global warming - and offered no
apologies for it. He was launching into more intensive
research for, and development of, a missile defense
shield - and demonstrated no equivocation or willingness
to turn back in the face of profound reservations from
important allies. Over the course of five European
countries and five frenetic days, Mr. Bush established
an approach to foreign policy much like his approach to
domestic affairs: occasionally humble remarks matched by
largely unswerving positions, sweet words coupled with
hard-line actions. ..."
6/21/2001 from The Washington Post:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/states/ms/A26182-2001Jun20.html
No Defense for the Missile Shield
By Mary McGrory
Thursday, June 21, 2001; Page A03
6/21/2001 from Reuters:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010621/pl/arms_russia_dc_1.html
Russian Adviser Says U.S. Missile Plan Flawed
By Ron Popeski
Thursday June 21 12:56 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A top adviser to Russian President
Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on
Thursday that U.S. missile defense plans left many
questions unanswered and were flawed in their technical
approach.
Igor Sergeyev's comments in the daily Izvestia drove
home similar doubts expressed by Putin himself earlier
this week.
Uncertainty over U.S. strategy was heightened by
Secretary of State Colin Powell's comments that the Cold
War premise of ''mutual assured destruction,'' declared
outmoded by President Bush, was still valid.
Sergeyev, presidential adviser on strategic issues, told
Izvestia in Washington that he had difficulty
understanding how the Bush administration intended to
build a ``limited'' shield capable of parrying advanced
missiles from ``rogue'' states.
``We now have more questions before us than answers.
Much of the talk about missile defenses is void of
substance,'' Sergeyev said after attending a conference
on nuclear non-proliferation.
``I cannot understand how America will build a missile
defense system able to counter powerful outside threats
while remaining limited. This is like saying a woman is
half pregnant. In what way will the system be limited --
in its effectiveness?'' ...
``It seems to me that at this stage we should remove
politicians and military people from the negotiating
table and replace them with technology and engineering
specialists,'' said Sergeyev, who also met leading
Congressmen in Washington.
``They speak the same language and would be better than
politicians at creating a more or less objective
picture.'' ...
6/22/2001 from Reuters: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010620/pl/arms_japan_usa_dc_1.html
Japan Defense Trip May Cement Views on U.S. Missiles
By Teruaki Ueno
Wednesday June 20 3:47 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's defense minister, Gen
Nakatani, will meet top U.S. military officials in
Washington this week in a move analysts say could pave
the way for Tokyo to endorse controversial U.S. missile
defense plans. Nakatani holds preparatory talks with
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Washington on
Friday ...Nakatani indicated that no key decisions would
emerge during his three-day trip, but did not rule out
Japan eventually joining America's ambitious missile
defense project. ``We will make a comprehensive decision
after I visit the United States and exchange views,'' he
told reporters on Tuesday. ...
``It is most likely that Japan will take part in the
missile defense initiative,'' said defense analyst Haruo
Fujii. To do so, however, Japan needs to change the
U.S.-drafted 1947 pacifist constitution that forbids
acts of ``collective self-defense,'' analysts and
officials said. ...
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