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emerge in the hands of certain members of the On 7 April 2010, former Joint Chief of Staff of the international community.""* The same source added that — Russian Armed Forces General Leonid Ivashov penned a "the Obama administration...sees the missiles as one cog column titled "Obama's Nuclear Surprise". Referring to in an array of defensive and offensive weapons that could _ the US President's speech in Prague a year ago—"The ultimately replace nuclear arms". It quoted the — existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most Pentagon's Cartwright as affirming: "Deterrence can no dangerous legacy of the Cold War'—and his signing of longer just be nuclear weapons. It has to be broader."”” the START II agreement in the same city this 8 April, the The following day, Britain's Independent ran a story, the author stated: "No examples of sacrificial service of the following quotes from which should disabuse anyone _ US elites to mankind or the peoples of other countries hoping that Washington's "post-nuclear world" will be can be discovered in US history over the past century. any safer a one. Referring to PGS intercontinental Would it be realistic to expect the advent of an African- ballistic missiles with (at least in theory) conventional American president to the White House to change the warheads, the newspaper warned: "...Once they are country's political philosophy traditionally aimed at launched, there could be difficulty in distinguishing their | achieving global dominance? Those believing that conventional payloads from nuclear ones. That in turn — something like that is possible should try to realize why could accidentally trigger a nuclear retaliation by Russia the US—the country with a military budget already or another similarly armed power. greater than those of all other countries of the world "Another danger is that if nuclear weapons are no combined—continues spending enormous sums of longer at issue, there would be a money on preparations for bigger temptation for American " : war."” military commanders to become ..the US may soon acquire Specifically in reference to more cavalier about ordering orbital weapons under the res. Iwashov gave ins etal strikes. And unless intelligence ; e Promp oba trike can be fully relied upon, the Prompt Global Strike plan. concep envisages a chances of striking mistaken They will give it the capacity concentrated strike using targets are high.""* . . several thousand precision US officials have discussed the to deal a conventional strike conventional weapons in 2-4 prospect of launching such virtually anywhere in the hours that would completely missiles at a lower altitude than sabe " destroy the critical nuclear ICBMs would travel, but world within an hour. infrastructures of the target it would take an almost limitless country and thus force it to degree of trust—or gullibility—on capitulate... behalf of Russian or Chinese military officials to depend "The Prompt Global Strike concept is meant to sustain upon the assurance that ICBMs heading toward or near the US monopoly in the military sphere and to widen the their territory were in fact not carrying nuclear weapons at ~—- gap between it and the rest of the world. Combined with whatever distance from the Earth's surface they were the deployment of missile defense supposed to keep the flying. US immune to retaliatory strikes from Russia and China, the Prompt Global Strike initiative is going to turn Reactions to the PGS Initiative Washington into a modern-era global dictator... In 2007, the year after the Pentagon announced its "In essence, the new US nuclear doctrine is an element Prompt Global Strike plans, a Russian analyst, Andrei of the novel US security strategy that would be more Kislyakov, wrote: "Despite the obvious threat to adequately described as the strategy of total impunity. civilization, the United States may soon acquire orbital | The US is boosting its military budget, unleashing NATO weapons under the Prompt Global Strike plan. They will as a global gendarme, and planning real-life exercises in give it the capacity to deal a conventional strike virtually Iran to test the efficiency of the Prompt Global Strike anywhere in the world within an hour."” initiative in practice. At the same time, Washington is Elaine Grossman wrote on | July last year: "Once it is talking about the completely nuclear-free world."” 00 Lailt tha Qaneantianal Otel Mat aAweaantad ta wate ",..the US may soon acquire orbital weapons under the Prompt Global Strike plan. They will give it the capacity to deal a conventional strike virtually anywhere in the world within an hour." Reactions to the PGS Initiative In 2007, the year after the Pentagon announced its Prompt Global Strike plans, a Russian analyst, Andrei Kislyakov, wrote: "Despite the obvious threat to civilization, the United States may soon acquire orbital weapons under the Prompt Global Strike plan. They will give it the capacity to deal a conventional strike virtually anywhere in the world within an hour."” Elaine Grossman wrote on | July last year: "Once it is built, the Conventional Strike Missile is expected to pair rocket boosters with a fast-flying ‘payload delivery vehicle’ capable of dispensing a kinetic energy projectile against a target. Upon nearing its endpoint, the projectile would split into dozens of lethal fragments potentially capable against humans, vehicles and structures, according to defense officials..."” A comparably horrifying scenario of the effects of a PGS attack, this time from the sea-based version, appeared in Popular Mechanics in January 2007.” About the Author: Rick Rozoff is a frequent contributor to GlobalResearch.ca, the Internet arm of The Centre for Research on Globalization based in Montreal, Canada. Visit his blog at http://rickrozoff. wordpress.com/. He is the list manager for STOP NATO, an international email news list that examines the expansion of NATO (http://groups.yahoo.com/ group/stopnato). The complete text of this article, originally titled "America's Imperial Design: Prompt Global Strike", including endnotes, is available at http://tinyurl.com/2g82bds. 14 * NEXUS JUNE - JULY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com