Nexus - 0227 - New Times Magazine-pages

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interest in underwater activities. One project, Desktop, involves surveillance of a "mysterious Soviet undersea operation". The only official statement ever released about the project states that it is an extremely sensitive analysis programme dealing with foreign activity." The code-word, Holystone, also designates highly sensi- tive undersea operations. Gorbachev made any progress on disarmament absolutely dependent on the United States dropping SDI. Indeed, he agreed to unprecedented Soviet troop withdrawals and reductions as a trade-off for the termination of SDI. But a week after these con- cessions, US President Bush asked Congress to increase funds for SDI by US$4.5 billion in the next fiscal year. The media won- dered how Mikhail Gorbachev would react to this slap in the face, but instead of criticism from Moscow there was accelerated coop- eration: discussions regarding the development of a lunar base and a joint mission to Mars. MATES but instead of criticism from Moscow there was accelerated coop- Marconi's history is closely allied with projects undertaken eration: discussions regarding the development of a lunar base through the UKUSA Agreement. This began in 1941, under the and a joint mission to Mars. BRUSA Agreement, when the USA delivered a model of the Japanese Purple machine (used by Japan to encipher diplomatic WINDING DOWN SDI? communications) to British code-breakers. In return, the British On 4th May 1993, the acting director of the SDI organisation, gave the US an assortment of advanced cryptological equipment, Major General Malcolm O'Neill, spoke to a Senate Armed including the revolutionary Marconi-Adcock high-frequency Services sub-committee and requested US$3,800 million for SDI direction-finder (HF-DF). in the fiscal year 1994, $40 million less than was appropriated in As technical giants, General Electric and its subsidiary Marconi _ financial year 1993. have provided much of the technology vital to projects undertaken On 13th April 1993, just days after the O'Neill request, through the UKUSA Agreement. As a leader in communications Secretary of Defense Les Aspin officially terminated the SDI technology, the General Electric Corporation is the sixth largest organisation, renaming it the Ballistic Missile Defense company in the United States, with sales approaching US$56.3 Organization (BMDO). billion in 1992. Its financial strength was originally backed by the In a media statement, Aspin said that future research by the Morgan banking house, and General Electric's missile and space © BMDO will focus on space-based sensors called "Brilliant Eyes", vehicle department was instrumental in the first Apollo mission, to be used for missile-tracking for enhanced coverage of lower and GE sold its aerospace division to upper-tier theatre defences. Martin Marietta in November 1992. "Brilliant Eyes" would also help Martin Marietta produced the satellitcs 3 ? 4 ground-based interceptors pro- for the Navy's space project, White Cloud To this day, no government will vide full coverage of ‘a conti- (part of the Classic Wizard ocean surveil- acknowledge the existence of this nental United States. aes er, wie he recon of | treaty nor make public the activities Ws. wea uses or ov Los Angeles (the cover for the West and projects that place under its Far from down-scaling SD, Coast office of the National auspices. full funding was continued up Reconnaissance Office). Technical assis- Pos, fe ke eo until 1993 without so much as a tance was provided by the NRO, and E- What is it that the signatories to the whimper from the Soviet leader- Systems, Inc. which provided the elec- LUKUSA Agreement have to hide, and ship. tronic intelligence (ELINT) receivers and 5 ? Some authors have suggested antennae for the satellites. how or what do they fear? that the real purpose of SDI was to protect the Earth from an UKUSA AND THE STRATEGIC extraterrestrial invasion. In DEFENSE INITIATIVE Genesis Revisited, Zecharia For more than 40 years, the former Soviet empire has been the Sitchin maintains that the world’s leaders “have been aware for main target of intelligence-gathering conducted under the auspices some time, first, that there is one more planet in our solar system of the UKUSA Agreement. and, second, that we are not alone". He claims that only this One of the most significant projects undertaken through the = knowledge can explain the incredible changes in world affairs that UKUSA Agreement was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), have been taking place with even more incredible speed. commonly known as "Star Wars". US President Reagan launched Certainly, Reagan and Gorbachev both referred to “threats from the Strategic Defense Initiative on 23 March 1983 to “render _ extraterrestrials’”... nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete". The heart of SDI called Speaking at Fallston, Maryland, on 4th December 1985, Reagan for the development of a "Peace Shield" using a global network of __ stated: defensive devices in space, including powerful lasers and beam "Just think how easy his (Gorbachev's) task and mine might be machines, to provide an umbrella of protection against a Soviet in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to nuclear attack. this world from some other species from another planet outside the Proponents of the New World Order credit the Strategic universe. We'd forget all the little local differences that we have Defense Initiative with the demise of the Soviet Union. In May between our countries and we would find out once and for all that 1993, US Defense Secretary, Les Aspin, claimed that SDI helped _ we are all human beings here on Earth together." bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union: "I think it probably On 16th February 1987, at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, had something to do with it," he said. "The former Soviet Union Gorbachev observed: was aware of the tremendous advances that the United States mili- “At our meeting in Geneva, the US President said that if the tary was making, not just in Star Wars but in technology general- _ Earth faced an invasion by extraterrestrials, the United States and ly.” the Soviet Union would join forces to repel such an invasion. I And so, since the supposed end of the Cold War, SDI has been shall not dispute the hypothesis, though I think it's early yet to portrayed as some kind of menace that exhausted the Soviet Union _ worry about such an intrusion.” morally, economically, politically and militarily. An in an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations UKUSA AND THE STRATEGIC I DEFENSE INITIATIVE For more than 40 years, the former Soviet empire has been the main target of intelligence-gathering conducted under the auspices of the UKUSA Agreement. One of the most significant projects undertaken through the UKUSA Agreement was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly known as "Star Wars". US President Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative on 23 March 1983 to “render nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete”. The heart of SDI called for the development of a "Peace Shield" using a global network of defensive devices in space, including powerful lasers and beam machines, to provide an umbrella of protection against a Soviet nuclear attack. Proponents of the New World Order credit the Strategic Defense Initiative with the demise of the Soviet Union. In May 1993, US Defense Secretary, Les Aspin, claimed that SDI helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union: "I think it probably had something to do with it," he said. "The former Soviet Union was aware of the tremendous advances that the United States mili- tary was making, not just in Star Wars but in technology general- ly." And so, since the supposed end of the Cold War, SDI has been portrayed as some kind of menace that exhausted the Soviet Union morally, economically, politically and militarily. NEXUS ¢ 15 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1995