Speak out over NMD

President Bush has committed himself to the National Missile Defence 
(NMD) "son of Star Wars" plan and will brook no opposition from European 
members of NATO, to say nothing of Russia and China.

But despite lip-service paid to NATO, Germany and France would prefer to 
rely on their rapid reaction force European Army to enforce their ambitions 
inside and outside Europe.

They know that the battle for markets on a global scale will pit US 
transnationals against their EU counterparts and that, in the scramble for 
scarce resources, Europeans would not be able to count on the US-led 
alliance to protect their interests if they conflicted with Washington's 
priorities.

German conservative Karl Lamers was quite correct to describe the national 
missile defence project as a US "dream of invulnerability".

Whether it is also "futile", as Mr Lamers added, is open to debate, 
although the fact that the Bush administration will devote US$5 billion 
this year alone to investigating its dream illustrates that it is payback 
time for the defence industry companies that bankrolled his election 
campaign.

Since the US military-industrial complex benefited from about US$60 billion 
in the original Star Wars search for a dream, it must be rubbing its hands 
in anticipation of another government-dispensed bonanza.

What is equally beyond doubt is that the national missile defence plan is 
banned under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which was agreed by 
the US and the Soviet Union. Today's non-existence of the Soviet Union 
invalidates in no way the international treaty that it was instrumental in 
drawing up.

Russia, as the internationally recognised successor to the Soviet Union, 
will not agree to any rewriting of the ABM treaty and opposes its 
unilateral abrogation by Washington.

Similarly, China is alarmed by suggestions that the US will extend its 
national missile defence umbrella to Taiwan, effectively interfering in 
internal Chinese affairs.

Even though the US has not elaborated a viable system for its nuclear 
defence scheme, it has already said that it will offer protection to its 
"friends", but there will be a price to pay.

Although the most profitable contracts will be the preserve of the US 
military-industrial complex, there will be scraps offered to European 
companies in countries whose governments bow the knee, agreeing to 
recognise a Pax Americana.

But far from security being on offer, it is the prospect of a renewed arms 
race, as those states that see themselves pencilled in as potential enemies 
or "rogue states" take steps to develop their own military potential.

Progressive opinion is calling on the labour movement to speak out against 
this scheme which wastes resources and destabilises world peace "Morning 
Star" (abridged)