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US Missile Defence, often known as ‘Star Wars’, is part of the United States' strategy for global military dominance. They call it a 'defensive system', but having withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to develop the system, it will in reality enable the US to attack other countries without fear of retaliation.
Some analysts have highlighted in particular that once the system is operative, the US could launch a first strike with increased confidence that any retaliatory strike could be shot down.
US Missile Defence bases at Menwith Hill and Fylingdales in Yorkshire make Britain a front line target in future US wars. And they operate outside British law and Parliamentary scrutiny.
By allowing these bases to be crucial components of the system the UK is complicit in the US military agenda and has put Britain in the front line in any future US war. It has already sparked controversy and provoked a new nuclear arms race, with an increased danger of nuclear weapons use. A potential aggressor could seek to destroy US Missile Defence facilities in Europe in the context of an imminent war with the US.
There are fears that continued development - including plans to site bases in Poland and the Czech Republic - will provoke a new Cold War with Russia. They, and other states such as Canada, China and some European states are openly opposed to space weapons and are trying to develop a Treaty to ban them, but the US vetoes all attempts and the UK has so far played no useful role in opposing them.
In all three proposed European host countries for US Missile Defence bases - the UK, the Czech Republic and Poland - the majority of public opinion is opposed to the system. A YouGov opinion poll in the UK showed 54% believed US Missile Defence would make Europe less safe, while only 24% thought otherwise.
The US Missile Defence system is a provocative military system, under the guise of defence. It will make the world even more unstable and insecure. Already there is talk of a new Cold War. CND believes the UK and US governments should concentrate on peaceful, multilateral initiatives for dealing with threats - the only true route to peace, security and nuclear disarmament.
» Join the 13th June 2009 No to US Missile Defence demonstration at Fylingdales. Email Ben Folley on
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for postcards and details of transport.
» Ask your Member of Parliament to sign EDM 366 US Missile Defence , sponsored by Peter Kilfoyle MP.
» Join the No to US Missile Defence Facebook group: 
Ne Zakladnam (No to Bases) campaign in the Czech Republic
Stop Wojnie (Stop War) campaign in Poland
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