A BREAKTHROUGH IN BUCHAREST...
After months of anticipation, NATO’s long-awaited annual summit in Bucharest has brought some much-needed coordination between the United States and Europe on the issue of missile defense. The conference’s final statement, formally issued by the Alliance’s Heads of State on April 3rd, recognized the significance of anti-missile capabilities to European defense – and the importance of the Bush administration’s efforts in that context. “Ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to Allies’ forces, territory and populations,” the statement read. “Missile defence forms part of a broader response to counter this threat. We therefore recognise the substantial contribution to the protection of Allies from long range ballistic missiles to be provided by the planned deployment of European based United States missile defence assets.” The Alliance, moreover, has signaled its intention to leverage these emerging capabilities for the common defense, and link it “with current NATO missile defence efforts.”
Not surprisingly, NATO’s newfound interest has provided a shot in the arm to U.S. efforts. The Associated Press (April 7) reports that – after months of deliberations – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is planning to travel to the Czech Republic next month to formally sign a treaty codifying Prague’s participation in the European leg of its missile defense system.
...AND STALEMATE IN SOCHI
The Bush administration’s efforts to woo Russia on the issue of ballistic missile defense are making considerably less progress, however. In the wake of the Bucharest summit, Presidents Bush and Putin met in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi for what was intended to be a landmark opportunity to Moscow’s concerns over American missile defense efforts. But, despite hours of consultations, little substantive progress appears to have been made. In comments to reporters following his meeting with President Bush, Mr. Putin made clear that the Kremlin’s concerns about American efforts remain largely unabated. "Our fundamental attitude to the American plans has not changed," the Baltimore Sun (April 7) reports Putin as saying.
MISSILE DEFENSE, IRANIAN STYLE
As the Bush administration’s plans for missile defenses in Europe continue to gather steam, the Islamic Republic is striking back with a proposal of its own. "If the world needs an anti-missile shield, it must be used to counter missiles and the nuclear menace coming from the U.S. and Israel, which directly or indirectly threaten different countries with aggression and war," Moscow’s RIA Novosti news agency cites Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as saying on April 7th. Iranian officials have not provided additional details concerning the scope and reach of their proposed missile defense shield, but such a program would ostensibly include Russia, which the news agency reports has joined Iran “in opposing U.S. plans to deploy elements of its missile defense system in Central Europe.”
PALESTINIAN ROCKETS PROLIFERATE...
One of the Palestinian Authority’s most prominent terrorist groups has announced a major expansion of its strategic arsenal. According to the Jerusalem Post (March 15), the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is claiming that it has developed a new, longer-range rocket capable of striking targets deeper within Israel than ever before. The new rocket reportedly has a range of some 22 kilometers, making it possible to strike areas south of the city of Ashkelon from outposts in the Gaza Strip. The news comes amid intensifying missile attacks against Israel from the Palestinian Territories.
...AS ISRAEL RETHINKS SHORT-RANGE DEFENSE
Israel, for its part, increasingly appears to be searching for a rapid response to this missile threat. Tel Aviv’s Ha’aretz newspaper, in its March 16th edition, reported that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak – a longtime proponent of the “Iron Dome” short-range anti-missile system, currently in development – is looking for near-term substitutes for the high-profile program, which is not expected to come online until the end of the decade at the earliest. The first program reportedly being evaluated for rapid induction into Israel’s anti-missile architecture is Skyguard, an upgraded version of the joint U.S.-Israeli Nautilus tactical laser interceptor scuppered by Israeli defense planners several years ago. The second is the Phalanx CIWS (close-in weapons system), a terminal-phase defense against low-flying and short-range missiles manufactured by the Raytheon Company.