USA launches new arms race and prepares to wage war against Russia
Pastor Dale Morgan
USA launches new arms race and prepares to wage war against Russia*
22.02.2007
Pravda.ru
America needs a very strong army to be prepared for possible threats in
the future. Russia is one of those “future threats,” the new Pentagon
head Roberts Gates said. “We need a full set of measures to conduct a
war, including both special military units necessary for war against
terrorists and infantry troops to be able to fight against large regular
armies. We do not know what changes can take place in such countries as
Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and others,” Robert Gates stated.
George W. Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as “axis of evil” in
January 2002. Five years later, when Saddam Hussein’s regime no longer
exists, the US administration is still concerned about possible enemies.
Moreover, Russia and China have been included on the list of potential
unpredictable rivals for the USA, in the same line with North Korea and
Iran. Unlike the previous potential enemies, the new ones possess large
armies.
Does it mean that the USA is getting ready for an armed conflict with
Russia and China – two huge countries that have nuclear weapons at their
disposal? Russian military specialists believe that Gates publicly
declared the USA’s intention to stand in an opposition with Russia and
China. “Robert Gates specified USA’s potential enemies. His speech has
most likely been coordinated with the White House and therefore mirrors
the official stance of the US administration,” retired colonel-general
Eduard Vorobyov told the Vremya Novostei newspaper.
Russia and the USA may launch another arms race some time in the future.
The Pentagon does not take only verbal actions to attack Russia. The USA
has recently deployed radar stations near Russia’s borders within the
scope of the US air defense program.
Missile Defense Agency director Henry Obering said several days ago that
the USA completed the redeployment of a sea-based X-band radar from
Hawaii to Adak, in the Aleutian islands. The islands are located close
to Russia's Kamchatka region. The radar is about 100 meters long and 65
meters wide, rising 25 meters up above the platform. General Obering
said that the sea-based radar would help defend the USA and its allies
against attacks of ballistic missiles.
The system is very simple, from the USA’s point of view: air defense
systems in Eastern Europe will intercept Iranian missiles, whereas
complexes based in the Pacific Ocean will destroy North Korea’s hope to
attack the US. However, Russia and China, the two new links of the “axis
of evil,” according to the Pentagon, have every reason to believe that
the US systems are aimed against their nuclear and rocket potential. The
above-mentioned X-band radar connected with intercepting missiles in
Alaska embraces a huge territory of Russia’s East Siberia, the Far East
and China. Such a fact cannot but raise serious concerns with the
Russian administration.
Furthermore, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency,
Patrick O’Reilly said that the USA intends to put the system on high
alert during the current year. At present moment the US has 14
anti-missile complexes in Alaska and two more in California. Their
number is to be increased up to 21 and 4 respectively. The quantity of
air defense systems in Alaska is to reach 40 by 2011.
It brings up the idea that Moscow and Beijing may not be willing to
conduct peaceful cooperation with Washington against such a background.
Major-General Alexander Vladimirov said in an interview with the Vremya
Novostei that recent remarks from top US defense officials and the
current US-led military activities in the world bear a certain
resemblance to war preparations. The specialist believes that the
current state of affairs is caused with USA’s failures in Iraq and the
shattering position of the Republican administration.
Declaring Russia a part of the axis of evil may also be interpreted as
an attempt of the US administration to justify the enormous defense
spending and inefficient foreign policies of the White House in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Russia was obviously not happy with those statements from
the US Defense Secretary, although they are not supposed to become a
reason for a new arms race between the two countries.
Vremya Novostei
Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru