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Europe Cool on Missile Defense, Experts Say
European nations remain leery of a U.S. plan to place 10 missile interceptors somewhere on the continent, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, May 24). “There is a difference in perception. America is looking at protection from strategic missile attacks from places like China, North Korea and Iran. Europe doesn’t believe that’s a threat,” said Andrew Brookes of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “Europeans, inherently, don’t buy into this fantasy,” he said. A NATO report issued this month stated that creation of a missile defense system in Europe is feasible in the face of a growing long-range missile threat (see GSN, May 11). There has yet been no discussion of the report at the political level, and defense analysts said they did not anticipate quick action in Europe, AFP reported. “On the European side, there is an almost categorical refusal to take decisions on the run, said Rik Coolsaet of the Royal Institute of International Relations in Brussels. “Politically, Europeans understand that there is a potential danger from the Iranians but it is not a danger they see likely in the short term,” he said. “The sense of danger is far less present in Europe than in the United States.” The functionality of the U.S. missile shield remains an unanswered question in Europe, analysts said. “We are being asked — us, the Europeans — to make a huge investment to buy a program which, even in the United States, is not believed to be ready,” Coolsaet said. “It isn’t working” Brookes said (Leon Bruneau, Agence-France Press/Deutsche Welle, May 24).
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