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AS the United States and its
closest allies criticized China for blowing up and old weather
satellite it owns, one of America’s most influential newspapers,
The New York Times, called for an international ban on any use of
antisatellite weapons following a successful test of such a weapon
by China.
At the same
time, the United States is proposing to locate an antiballistic
defense station in the Czech Republic.
Ban all
tests
“Surely it
would make military and diplomatic sense to pursue the opposite
course and seek to ban all tests and any use of antisatellite
weapons,” the newspaper said in an editorial.
The Times said
the refusal by the administration of President George W. Bush to
consider an arms control treaty for space “give it scant standing
to chastise the Chinese.”
“The
administration needs to reverse course promptly and join in talks
aimed at banning further tests or use of antisatellite weapons,”
the paper opined.
The editorial
argued that the United States has many more satellites in orbit than
any other power and therefore has the most to lose from an unbridled
space arms race.
“Some
experts suggest that China’s latest test is intended to prod the
United States to join serious negotiations,” the editorial said.
“The way to counter China or any other potentially belligerent
space power is through an arms control treaty, not a new arms race
in space.”
Antimissile
station
Meanwhile,
adding another reason for the world to worry about the security, the
United States is bent on carrying on a plan to station an
antimissile station in the Czech Republic.
This is
something the Russians will not take sitting down—even if all the
Americans want to site on Czech soil is a radar station.
Despite
Russia’s humbling with the disintegration of the Soviet Empire, it
is not a country that can be taken for granted weaponry-wise.
The United
States has asked to start talks on sitting part of a controversial
antimissile system on Czech soil, Czech Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek said on Saturday.
“Late last
night we were informed that they would like to launch negotiations
over the possible sitting of an antiballistic missile defense system
in our country. Concretely, this would be a radar station,”
Topolanek announced at a news conference.
The official
US request came within minutes of Topolanek’s center-right
government, which backs Czech participation in the US defense
system, being confirmed in power. The confirmation came in a crucial
parliamentary confidence vote, which ended more than seven months of
political deadlock.
Defense
against Iran
Washington
wants to deploy 10 interceptor missiles and a radar in Europe to
reinforce its defenses against the perceived threat of a ballistic
missile attack from North Korea or Iran.
It has been
eyeing the Czech Republic or Poland as the favored home for the
controversial new system but has also it could be split between
countries.
Russia has
fiercely attacked the plan, with Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
saying in November 2006 it was a “destabilizing” move that
Russia would respond to.
“This
decision, if taken by the Czechs, will not be without
consequences,” Andrei Kokoshin, the chairman of the Russian
parliament’s committee for the former Soviet states, was quoted by
the Interfax news agency as saying on Saturday.
He warned
Prague that the Russian parliament, or Duma, could “recommend, in
return, measures which will not necessarily be symmetrical and which
will allow us to ensure the strategic stability and national
security of Russia” and its allies.
A threat
Russia
Such an
antimissile system could “threaten the interests of Russia and
Belarus,” Kokoshin said.
Topolanek said
negotiations with the US would take “several months” but that
the facility could probably be up and running by 2011.
“The
possible sitting of the radar on our soil is in our interest and
will increase the security of the Czech Republic and Europe,” he
said.
The choice of
the Czech Republic as a possible site was to some extent an
appreciation of the country’s contribution to NATO since it joined
the military alliance in 2004, he added.
The main
opposition of Social Democrats have attacked the US base proposal,
calling for a referendum on the issue. The Communists are resolutely
opposed.
Czech Defense
Minister Vlasta Parkanova appealed on Saturday for the issue to be
debated seriously and not become an ideological football.
Sitting a US
base on Czech territory was “not a question for a referendum”
Topolanek said on Saturday. “It is a specialist issue and a
security question,” he added. Analytical commentaries added by --The
Times OP-ED staff to AFP reports
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