It was gratifying to read your endorsement of the Polish government’s skepticism about the Bush administration’s proposal to station in Poland part of its European-based missile-defense system (“The Poles Get Cold Feet,” editorial, Dec. 30).

In the Czech Republic, the proposal is in trouble: polls show a clear majority against the Czech component of the system. Washington claims the system responds to an Iranian nuclear threat, but there’s no credible evidence of such a threat today.

And far from protecting against such a threat in the future, the United States militaristic stance, with its proclaimed right to wage preventive war and more than 700 military bases worldwide, only enhances its likelihood.

Nuclear powers can reduce the danger of nuclear warfare by taking major steps toward disarmament, globally and in the Middle East — not by expanding the nuclear threat.

Such steps would stop reinforcing the notion that nuclear weapons are legitimate currency in relations among nations; they would create a political climate discouraging new countries from developing nuclear weapons.

Joanne Landy
New York, Dec. 31, 2007

The writer is co-director of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy.


published in section „Letter To the Editor“ on 06.01.2008