BERLIN: Like old battle horses feeling young as the bugle sounds, Cold War strategists are feeling the adrenalin mount as missile defense becomes front page news. True, the defense against missiles which Bill Clinton (reluctantly) and George W. Bush (enthusiastically) are proposing – with massive support from America’s Congress – is different from Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars dream of twenty years ago: NMD is supposed to catch only a modest number of warheads, not provide complete protection against enemy missiles. Nevertheless, the issue rekindles old debates over deterrence, mutual assured destruction and nuclear arms control, and revives the rivalry between the nuclear powers just when nuclear weapons had lost much of their relevance.
BERLIN: Like old battle horses feeling young as the bugle sounds, Cold War strategists are feeling the adrenalin mount as missile defense becomes front page news. True, the defense against missiles which Bill Clinton (reluctantly) and George W. Bush (enthusiastically) are proposing – with massive support from America’s Congress – is different from Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars dream of twenty years ago: NMD is supposed to catch only a modest number of warheads, not provide complete protection against enemy missiles. Nevertheless, the issue rekindles old debates over deterrence, mutual assured destruction and nuclear arms control, and revives the rivalry between the nuclear powers just when nuclear weapons had lost much of their relevance.