Agence France-Presse,
HUNTSVILLE, United States (AFP): The United States should press ahead with the deployment of missile defenses at sites in eastern Europe despite Russia's objections and its offer of an alternate site, a former top US envoy said Tuesday.
Ambassador Robert Joseph, former assistant secretary of state for arms control, said Russia does not share the US view of the Iranian missile threat and is seeking to derail US negotiations on the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.
“Perhaps from paranoia, or perhaps from a concern for lost prestige, or perhaps both, Russia wants to prevent the permanent presence of US military forces in Eastern Europe,” said Joseph, who stepped down last week as a special envoy on proliferation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed using a Russian radar in Azerbaijan and other sites in southern Russia if Washington gives up the eastern European sites.
According to Joseph, the Russians added a second precondition two weeks ago, demanding a US commitment not to develop space-based missile defenses.
While welcoming the Russian offer of missile defense cooperation, President George W. Bush has said it could not be a substitute for the European sites.
Despite last month's offer of cooperation, Russia's posture has grown more confrontational since Putin's speech in Munich in February accusing Washington of having “overstepped its borders in all spheres.”
Moscow has announced it is withdrawing from the CFE treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe, threatened to withdraw from the INF treaty that removed medium range missiles from Europe, and threatened to target US missile defense sites in Europe.
The Russian military, for its part, is again flying long-range strategic bomber missions of a kind rarely seen since the end of the Cold War.
Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state, urged the administration in a recent newspaper column to seriously pursue the Russian overture on missile defense, arguing that it could open a positive strategic dynamic in an increasingly troubled relationship.
Joseph alluded to Kissinger's position in a speech here to a conference on missile defense sponsored by the US Army's Space and Missile Defense Command.
“One question that many are asking today is whether Moscow is now serious about cooperation on missile defense having rejected for several years numerous US offers to cooperate,” he said.
“The best answer I can give is maybe, or maybe not. But what is clear is that we must reject the preconditions.”
Joseph argued that failure to do so would show a lack of resolve and result in a loss of support from European allies.
“On missile defense, especially a third site in Europe, I don't believe we do share the same mutual interest as Russia,” he said.
“We need the site to protect the United States and our allies from Iranian missiles, a threat Russia continues to deny,” he said.
The Czech and Polish sites were key to preventing Iran from blackmailing the United States' European allies if it succeeds in developing ballistic missiles capable of striking European capitals, he said.
“It's my experience that Russia will understand our position, and will accept it. They are never going to like it, but they will accept it as based on US self-interest,” Joseph said.
