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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 21 May 30, 2016
(front page)
Washington launches anti-missile system on
Russian ‘periphery’
BY SETH GALINSKY
Washington inaugurated its first ground-based anti-missile system in
Europe May 11 in Romania, and broke ground on a second site in Poland
the next day. Russian President Vladimir Putin scoffed at U.S. claims
the program is defensive and aimed at Iran, not Russia.
“They aren’t defensive systems, they are part of the U.S. strategic
nuclear potential deployed on the periphery, in Eastern Europe," Putin
said May 13. “We will have to think about how we can fend off the
threats to the Russian Federation’s security."
The anti-missile site, which will be run by NATO, is housed at a U.S.
naval facility located at a Romanian military base in Deveselu. U.S.
Navy Lt. Shawn Eklund told CNN the new facility is capable of firing
SM-3 missiles that can intercept “short and medium range enemy missiles."
The Polish site is scheduled to be up and running in 2018.
The anti-missile system, officially called the European Phased Adaptive
Approach, was initiated by President George W. Bush and so far also
includes a radar system in Turkey, a command and control center in
Germany and four naval destroyers with Aegis ballistic missiles that
operate in the Mediterranean Sea from a base in Spain.
Tensions between the U.S. and Russian governments have been increasing
over the last several years, alongside collaboration between the two in
trying to stabilize the situation in Syria and President Barack Obama’s
talk of a “reset" in their relations.
Putin boycotted the fourth and final high-level Nuclear Security Summit
that Obama hosted in Washington, D.C., March 31 to April 1. The summits
ostensibly advance Obama’s goal of “a world without nuclear weapons." In
fact, they have been cover for Washington and Moscow to continue to
possess more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, while
trying to prevent more nations from acquiring them.
In 2011 Obama signed the New Start treaty with Moscow, which allowed the
Russian government to scrap many of its older silo-based nuclear
missiles with upgraded mobile ones. According to Time magazine, Russian
delegates told U.S. representatives during an informal discussion that
“of course you guys want a nuclear-free world, because then you would
dominate the world with your conventional weapons. Why would we ever
want to do that?"
Despite portraying himself as an opponent of nuclear weapons, Obama has
been stepping up the modernization of the U.S. arsenal. The Pentagon is
planning five new types of nuclear warheads that are part of an atomic
revitalization over the next three decades. Last year the U.S. military
flight-tested the B61 Model 12 in Nevada. Moscow called the tests
“openly provocative."
According to Popular Mechanics the B61 has an internal guidance system
and a “dial-a-yield," meaning that the explosive power of each warhead
can be set by the ground crew. The yield could range from 2 percent of
the explosive power of the bomb Washington dropped on Hiroshima during
World War II up to three times the power of that blast.
The escalation of development of nuclear weapons, whether “tactical" or
otherwise, and Washington’s provocative anti-missiles shield and other
moves increase the risk of a world-threatening conflagration.
In April the Pentagon reported that there have been repeated incidents
of Russian aircraft buzzing U.S. planes and ships in the Baltic Sea,
Black Sea and other areas around the former Soviet Union.
After one incident in April, Secretary of State John Kerry said “under
the rules of engagement, that could have been a shoot-down."
In another move aimed at Moscow, next month in Poland some 25,000 troops
from U.S. Army Europe, Polish forces and other NATO nations will hold
Anakonda 16, one of the largest war exercises in Europe in years.
Related articles:
US gov’t seeks stability for imperialist order in Mideast
Tries for Moscow deal while sending more troops
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