29 November 2001
US Continues to Resist Cooperation on Terrorism, Arms Control
by Jim Wurst

Prof. Michael Klare, the author books including "Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws," said the US goal is still "permanent unipolar dominance." He and other speakers noted the US insisted that the recent arms control agreements with Russia not be legally-binding, thus subject to abandonment at any time. Retired General Vladimir Dvorkin of the Academy of Military Sciences in Moscow that this insistence will "lead to an international legal vacuum." 

Dvorkin, speaking from Moscow via a teleconference, said any permanent solution "needs a framework agreement binding on both parties.. It will be difficult, if not impossible, if we do not have a binding document in our hands."

The US and Russian analysts were critical of the arms control agreement that came out of the Bush-Putin summit at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. While they welcomed the commitment to cut long-range nuclear forces to around 1,700 warheads (each now has approximately 6,000), they noted the ten years it will take to reduce to this level show the two sides feel no sense of urgency and that the 1,700 figure could easily have gone lower.

Rather than look at the Crawford summit as a victory of cooperation, the panelist argued that the decisions were framed by the ongoing Bush insistence that it not be bound by an international rules. Pavel Podvig of the Moscow Institute of Physics called it "a disturbing sign" that Bush refused to agree to destroy the warheads that will be removed from the weapons. "What's more important: you see warheads dismantled or you have the capacity to build up to 2,500 warheads?" he asked. Panelists also noted that there will be no verification for these cuts, thus it will be impossible to confirm that they are being carried out.

Klare pointed out that the US has "no incentive to negotiate equal reductions... but only to sign accords that perpetuate its overwhelming superiority... The US will only doom itself if it does not become a part of the international community."

One of the few bright spots in US/Russian arms control is the Cooperative Threat Reduction, a project started in the mid-1990s to both safeguard and destroy some of the nuclear weapons left over from the Soviet Union. Paul Walker of Global Green USA said the four billion dollars that have been spent so far eliminated 500 warheads plus missiles, missile launch silos and bombers, as well as chemical weapons and production facilities.

The conference, "Weapons of Mass Destruction: Cold War Legacies in the Post 9-11 World," was held at New York University on 26-27 Nov. It was organised by groups including NYU's International Center for Advanced Studies, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New York and the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

Michael Ratner of the civil rights group the Centre for Constitutional Rights, said the 11 Sept terror attacks in New York "rather than teach the US a positive lesson, learned a negative one that exacerbated the worst tendencies" of the administration's view that the only worthwhile international cooperation is one totally controlled by Washington. He described it as "a continuation of old policies: war as a solution, superpower dominance, little regard for international institutions such as the UN, and no compromising sovereignty in the name of international security."

In an analysis of how the war in Afghanistan is affecting South Asia, Yogesh Chandrani of Columbia University, warned of coming violence in Pakistan if General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, is undermined by US policies. He argued that none of Musharraf's conditions laid down to the US for supporting the war against the Taliban have been met. These conditions including preventing the Northern Alliance from entering Kabul and Kanduz and halting the bombing during Ramadan. "The war has been a strategic disaster for Musharraf, " Chandrani said, which could lead to a backlash by Pashtun extremists inside Pakistan (the Taliban are predominately Pashtun and make up a large part of the population of southern Afghanistan and Pakistan).