#6033
[Second Issue of the Day]
#6
Vek
January 18, 2002
THE HYPERBOLE OF CHARLES TOWNES
Discussing the US withdrawal from the ABM treaty
Author: Nikolai Poroskov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
RUSSIA CAN SWALLOW THE BAIT OF TOTAL MUTUAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO ACADEMICIAN BELOKON OF RUSSIA'S COSMONAUTICS ACADEMY, THE US'S ANTIMISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM IS PRIMARILY DESIGNED TO COUNTERACT THE REMAINS OF RUSSIA'S STRATEGIC ROCKET FORCES.
Valentin Belokon, full member of the Forecasting Academy and academician of the Cosmonautics Academy, discusses possible consequences of the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.
Question: Does the the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty a threat to Russia? We have Satan missiles with ten separate guided warheads, which could penetrate any missile defense system. Moreover, Topol-M missiles can also be equipped with six warheads.
Valentin Belokon: It is well-known to experts that creating a missile defense system is preferable for the side which is planning to strike first. If necessary, the US would be able to blackmail Russia: supposedly, we deliver a strike (after which 90% of nuclear carriers will be destroyed) and defend against a retaliatory strike at the same time. I think those who subsidize and promote the national missile defense project are counting primarily on this.
Withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, the US would retain the basis for the phase which Reagan promoted, taking his cue from the "father of the bomb", Teller: laser beam weapons. While a "missile-versus- missile" project is now being researched, from 2008-12 research into laser weapons will be intensified. The US would shift toward laser and similar weapons: electromagnetic guns, neutron beams and UHF beams and microwave lasers.
Question: America has outlined its stand: it is wary of either individual unsanctioned launches from Russia, or strikes on the part of the "rogue states."
Belokon: However, specific countries are never mentioned, since it is hard to prove that, for instance, North Korea either can produce or possess a given kind of missile. Let us examine the deeds. Clinton's initiative - 100 interceptors in Alaska - was not rejected, and no other options were forwarded. If China, Libya, Iran, Iraq are taken as the most possible "rogue states", while shouldn't they locate these missiles, say, on the island of Diego-Garcia instead of Alaska? It is clear that they are primarily meant to be a defense against Russia.
The Americans intend to drop intercontinental ballistic missiles in the boost or active phase of the flight - at the length of the first few hundreds of kilometers, since the carrier is more vulnerable than an ultra-strong warhead, which has a coating, decoy targets, and can maneuver. The system under construction is mainly designed to hit Russia's missiles when they are launched. This system would be of less use for all other theaters of war: no U.S. interceptor would catch missiles launched from China, Iran, Iraq or Libya, in the active phase.
Question: Along with withdrawal from the ABM Treaty of 1972, the quantity of warheads would be reduced from 6,000 to 2,000 or even 1,500. Wouldn't that, in addition, be economically advantageous?
Belokon: Sweeping cuts to the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union has not yet yielded a single kopeck even for the needs of education and healthcare. If reduction of strategic offensive weapons is linked with the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty of 1972, this is not a step to achieve new parity, but an act of capitulation: the Americans have been threatening us with withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, and we are wasting 4,000 missiles carrying warheads. It may appear that the national economy could not support such an arsenal of missiles - then tell us about it straight away, without linking it to the ABM Treaty.
Question: However, what if the Americans actually decided to "waste" 4,000 warheads?
Belokon: A secret plan appeared in the US a few years ago, contrived by physicist Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate for his contribution to inventing the laser - and member of a top secret consultation commission. Townes related it in his book, which has recently been published in the US. He mentioned how Russia might be trapped: for the promise of total mutual nuclear disarmament. The US national missile defense is designed to counteract the remnants of Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces.
However, Townes does not mention the possibility that the Ku Klux Klan may seize power in the United States.
(Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin)
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