ANSWERS: NEGATIVE REACTIONS TO NMD BY OTHER NATIONS ARE EXAGGERATED

RECORD SHOWS THAT NATIONS OPPOSED TO NMD GREATLY EXAGGERATE THEIR PROBLEMS WITH IT

THE HINDU March 14, 2001 HEADLINE: The Hindu-Editorial: Indo-U.S. dialogue on NMD? //VT2002acsln

The Indian reserve on the NMD has turned out to be a prudent move. Sensing the depth of the U.S. political commitment to the NMD, the West Europeans have begun to tone down their criticism. They propose, instead, to engage Washington in order to influence American policy. Russia is opposed to the NMD, but has come up with its own proposals for defences against missiles. Negotiations have now been set on the subject between the U.S. and Russia. China continues to campaign against the NMD, but it is within reason to expect that Washington and Beijing would soon talk about defences.

USA-RUSSIA AGREEMENT ON ABM TREATY WILL SET THE STAGE FOR OTHER NATIONS BEING MORE CALM

PETER MALONE, managing director of CSP Associates, a strategy consulting firm, January 24, 2001, The Boston Globe SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A15 HEADLINE: MISSILE DEFENSE AND ARMS REDUCTION //VT2002acsln

The plain fact of a new US-Russian agreement should allay many international fears. With international acceptance, some of the domestic opposition to missile defense will wane. And without the ABM treaty itself, which was designed, after all, to prevent effective defense, many of the technical and budgetary objections to missile defense can also be addressed. For example, critics contend that the currently proposed system will have difficulty "discriminating" live warheads from decoys. Why not equip our defensive missiles with multiple interceptors and deployable sensors?

NMD PLANNING WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY APPROPRIATE DIPLOMACY

Omaha World-Herald January 11, 2001, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 22; HEADLINE: A Grim Notion: Loose Nukes //VT2002acsln

But certainly if the project proceeded it would have to be accompanied by an appropriate body of diplomacy to make it effective. No sensible government would proceed blindly with a project that made its own safety much less tenable.

OPPONENTS OF NMD WILL GET OVER IT

Jeffrey Gedmin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. The Washington Post December 31, 1999, SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A31 HEADLINE: The Case For Missile Defense // acs-ln-1/1/00

It's true the Russians and Chinese object to current U.S. plans, and that our allies worry about a new arms race. But China and Russia know they have nothing to fear from American missile defense. The United States pursues cooperative policies toward both. Can anyone imagine how either China or Russia would profit by turning its back on the West? Moscow once opposed German unification and NATO expansion, too. But confidence and conviction on our part proved ultimately persuasive, and the sky did not fall.