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19 Sep, 2009 00:40

Republicans rage over Star Wars Holy Grail

Actually, Democrats never liked the anti-missile defense system, an idea that goes back to the Ronald Reagan era, believes Ivan Elland, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute.

The Republicans are outraged while the Democrats are largely supporting the latest initiative of the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, that the U.S., NATO and Russia should, together, link their defense systems to protect themselves from potential threats.

Both the West and Russia should reassess their relationship because there is much more room for co-operation, says Elland.

The statement by NATO’s head is directly linked with the latest statement by Barack Obama on the decision to withdraw plans for deployment of the anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe.

“I think Obama is reaching out to Russia, even if it is causing problems with some of the allies, like Poland and the Czech Republic, it’s a major step,” states Ivan Elland.

As for Vladimir Putin’s call for abandoning some of the old trade policies between the U.S. and Russia, Ivan Elland notes that “countries are less likely to go to war if they have trade and investments – no guarantee, but there is always a peace lobby in every country.”

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