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 They call it a 'defensive system', but having withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to develop the system, it will in reality enable the US to attack other countries without fear of retaliation.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.

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.

» Ahead of the Party of European Socialists activists conference in Vienna on 4th-6th July, CND and Ne Zakladnam launched a joint appeal to Britain's Labour Party, the Czech Social Democrat Party and all their European sister parties to oppose the US Missile Defence system in the European Parliament and at the 2009 European elections.
 
To read the appeal click here.

» A recent Westminster Hall debate held on 3rd April on the Foreign Affairs Committee's Global Security: Russia report included a significant amount of discussion on the US Missile Defence system, with a number of Conservative MPs expressing concern at UK involvement.

Read the debate here.

» Lubomír Zaorálek, the Czech Social Democrat shadow Foreign Minister visited London on the 22nd and 23rd January to address a public meeting and speak to MPs about opposition to US proposals for a Missile Defence radar base in the Czech Republic.
 
Read a report and watch a video clip of the meeting here.

» The Ministry of Defence has been accused by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of manipulating parliament through the manner in which Secretary of State Des Browne announced that Menwith Hill was to be used as part of the US Missile Defence system

In the committee's Global Security: Russia report they stated 'We regret the manner and timing of the government's announcement ... and the resulting lack of parliamentary debate on the issue.'

Read the relevant section of the report here. 

» Ask your Member of Parliament to sign EDM 65 Parliament and Decisions over US Missile Defence , sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn MP

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