05 June 2007
Missile Defense and International Terror
The recent controversy over the establishment of NATO anti-missile defenses in Poland and Czech Republic shows that Mr. Putin shares Mr. Bush’s confusion over how to answer the challenge that International Terror poses to world harmony. Terror is not a new tactic in world politics. The Cold War was commonly referred to as a Balance of Terror. The problem today is that the most frightening sources of terror, fundamentalist Islam and other non-state movements, are not vulnerable to counterbalancing threats of force.
All of them receive financial resources from NGOs and “Rogue States.” These suppliers of funds, recruits, materials and technology are shadow terrorists who cannot be prevented from providing resources or WMD with anti-missile defenses either.
To the extent that the Rogue States threaten other states with nuclear-armed missiles, Russia can provide as effective an anti-missile shield as the U.S. may install in Eastern Europe. The smarter and least costly U.S. strategy would be to enlist Russia to join in a European anti-missile defense system, and to get the Russians to join in combating the root causes of international terror – world poverty and unequal personal opportunity.
The recent controversy over the establishment of NATO anti-missile defenses in Poland and Czech Republic shows that Mr. Putin shares Mr. Bush’s confusion over how to answer the challenge that International Terror poses to world harmony. Terror is not a new tactic in world politics. The Cold War was commonly referred to as a Balance of Terror. The problem today is that the most frightening sources of terror, fundamentalist Islam and other non-state movements, are not vulnerable to counterbalancing threats of force.
All of them receive financial resources from NGOs and “Rogue States.” These suppliers of funds, recruits, materials and technology are shadow terrorists who cannot be prevented from providing resources or WMD with anti-missile defenses either.
To the extent that the Rogue States threaten other states with nuclear-armed missiles, Russia can provide as effective an anti-missile shield as the U.S. may install in Eastern Europe. The smarter and least costly U.S. strategy would be to enlist Russia to join in a European anti-missile defense system, and to get the Russians to join in combating the root causes of international terror – world poverty and unequal personal opportunity.
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