Word: shielding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...goal, without regard for its steep diplomatic and economic costs. America’s national security rests on a myriad of supports—including the confidence of our allies and the trust of other nations—and cannot be secured solely by an extravagant and unworkable missile shield...
...nuclear bombs—by either converting the material to fuel for power plants or inactivating it by mixing it with radioactive waste. The Bush administration is considering canceling the program because of its high price tag, an estimated $6 billion over two decades. But unlike the missile defense shield, which carries costs of up to $8 billion per year and is not yet functional, this program would take concrete steps to reduce the risk of a nuclear threat by reducing the world’s stockpile of easily obtainable plutonium. Terrorists who acquire this plutonium will be inventive enough...
...reducing the world’s nuclear weapon stockpiles. A Chinese buildup seems certain to encourage similar measures by other Asian states, raising the risk of a new arms race. This bizarre overhaul of 50 years of non-proliferation doctrine is designed to garner Chinese support for the missile shield, by ensuring that the nuclear missile defense will not in any way threaten China’s ability to attack the United States. It is one thing to aim at a theater missile defense that would be more limited but also more reliable; it is quite another to encourage potential...
...effects of Bush’s absolutist foreign policy, in which all goals are sacrificed to that of a missile shield, are already apparent. In a recent trip to Australia, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage stressed the importance of the Australian-New Zealand United States Treaty (ANZUS), saying that allies should be willing to die for one another. Armitage’s rhetoric made many Australians nervous, particularly after the United States has threatened to abrogate its own treaty obligations to build the missile defense, and has led to calls in Australia for withdrawal from the ANZUS treaty. Bush?...
American leadership should not be compromised in pursuit of a technological pipe dream. Rather than protect the U.S. from attack, Bush’s blind insistence on a missile shield has instead done much to endanger our national security...