Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 22)
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- Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 22)
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military superiority over the Soviet Union. The US’s refusal to
continue to abide by SALT-II, its production of the B-52
bomber, its intransigent position at the Reykjavik meetings
and violation of the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missiles) treaty, all
point to complete unwillingness to contribute to the «balancing
process.» The restrictions imposed by the ABM treaty had kept
under leash the development and deployment of space-based
defenses, so that neither the US nor USSR needed to plan to
overcome the other’s defenses. The ABM treaty has functioned
to restrain the arms race for the past 14 years. The US ad-
ministration has now exchanged this treaty for the SDI project
which will escalate the arms race. Despite this fact, the Reagan
Administration has been forging ahead with the SDI, totally
unprepared to make any concessions. US Defense Secretary
Weinberger stated the US position clearly: «Extending the
ABM treaty or doing anything that would prevent our doing all
the things we need to do to develop a SDI is something ob-
viously we would be very much opposed to» (International
Herald Tribune, June 3, 1986). Even the science consultant for
the Pentagon was chosen on the basis of his support for the
SDI prior to any other consideration, even scientific merit.
It is evident that the SDI is a central element in US im-
perialism’s strategic military planning to allow it to project its
influence anywhere imperialist interests are threatened or in-
tended to be expanded. Having existed in military parity with
the Soviet Union over the past 15 years, US imperialism has
reached a point where it must leap out of this parity, not simply
by stockpiling more warheads, but by destroying every arms
control accord. The SDI is organically tied to imperialism’s
underlying drive to expand or perish. It is therefore not sur-
prising that the Reagan Administration has stonewalled all ac-
cords to control the arms race, for these would favor the
spread of socialism strategically.
HIGH—TECH FOR AGGRESSION
The general impression is that the SDI is still at the planning
stage. However, testing for this project has been underway for
more than a year and a half, and close to $3 billion have
already been spent. Despite the Reagan Administration’s
preaching frugality, the SDI has remained untouched by all
budget cuts. Not only does the SDI top all military projects to
date; funding for the US armed forces in 1987 is the largest
sum ever allocated to defense in peacetime ($292.2 billion).
Since «every major technological breakthrough for
monopoly capitalist industry has been made under military
auspices, the military is an appropriate vehicle for SDI in-
vestments because it has the organization and system of inter-
nal security required» (Frontline, March 3,1986). It is not sur-
prising that all previous arms programs have been brought
under the wing of the SDI office of the Pentagon. So im-
perative is the SDI to US imperialist plans that Reagan is using
the last years of his term to «...lock future administrations into
the SDI as the underpinning of all US military strategy.»
Another factor which makes the SDI a project different
from the rest is that the US is using it to draw its allies more
directly into the arms race, by inviting other imperialist in-
dustrial giants to join it. The US strives for a gigantic
technological-military-political alliance, revolving around the
SDI, in order to confront the so-called communist ‘threat’.
ISRAELI TASKS
The Zionist entity is cut out to play no small role amidst
these giants. The fact that it is the first non-NATO state to join
22
the SDI is significant in itself. It is elementary knowledge that
‘Israel’, through imperialist military and economic support,
has been able to construct a formidable military apparatus
over the years. The 1980s are of particular importance since
evidence of the unique US-Israeli relationship has manifested
itself on various levels. Some of the most prominent measures
taken to reinforce this alliance are: the conversion of US loans
to ‘Israel’ into grants; the signing of a strategic cooperation
agreement, of which the SDI cooperation is an extension; the
implementation of a Free Trade Area agreement; and joint
military maneuvers in 1985, along with increased sharing of
intelligence information.
The main areas in which SDI research and development will
be carried out in conjunction with ‘Israel’ are the following:
a. at least three different kinds of lasers;
b. kinetic energy weapons, nicknamed ‘smart rock’, which are
able to seek out a target in the air and destroy it on impact;
c. particle beam technology, a new high-tech field for directing
energy at targets;
d. sophisticated computer technology. The SDI will depend
heavily on computers which require software more complex
than any other system ever attempted. These envisioned
“super-computers’ would be used to process date, detect missile
firings, determine the source of attack, compute trajectories,
discriminate between real warheads and decoys, and aim and
fire weapons.
It is in this field that ‘Israel’ has a major role to play, with
more than just interesting ideas and unique proposals to offer.
Israeli military industries, universities and private companies
have already presented the SDI Organization with more than
150 project proposals which are expected to produce subcon-
tracts valued at $50-100 million a year. The fields of specialty
include: (a) electronics; (b) electronic countermeasures; (c)
lasers and holography (a photographic method using laser light
to produce three-dimensional images); (d) hypervelocity
weapons, e.g. an improved rail gun with tank-mounted
capabilities; and (e) optics. Israeli contractors will be working
on computer switches which operate optically rather than elec-
tronically. Research will be geared to speeding up such
microscopic switches which operate logic gates - the com-
ponents of semiconducting chips that enable computers to
calculate.
Despite all skepticism, experts estimate that this research
could yield results in a matter of years.
With their record for producing high-quality products at
relatively low costs (due to lower-paid labor), Israeli com-
panies will be able to compete in bidding for specific SDI con-
tracts, separately or in joint ventures with US companies. The
US is interested in coordination with ‘Israel’ to reverse its own
deficit in high-technology trade. This will proceed by conver-
ting ‘Israel’ into a high-technology base from which the US can
harvest gains for both sides. The US thereby aims at reducing
its dependence on Japanese-made components. The most
sophisticated weapons in the US have become increasingly
dependent on components imported from Japan. This fact has
triggered many a debate in the Pentagon and arms industry.
Japan is the world’s leading supplier of computer memory
chips which are key elements in many electronics-based
weapons systems. Not only does the US depend on Japan for
this high-tech product; it also buys advanced technology that is
not yet available from US suppliers.
The feasibility of the SDI project, envisioned as the ultimate
space weapon ‘to end all weapons’, is not the question. For - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 23
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