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FEATURES

‘By FRED WEIR

It is just over a year since U.S. Presi- dent Ronald Reagan offered the world his own rosy view of the future path to peace, a vision put forward in his now- famous ‘‘Star Wars”’ speech.

He said: “I call upon the scientific community, who gave us nuclear weap- ons, to turn their great talents to the

. cause of mankind and world peace: to

give us the means of rendering these nu- clear weapons impotent and obsolete’’.

What Reagan had in mind was that American scientists should turn their energies toward the development of a sophisticated Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) network, that would cast an impenetrable ‘shield’? over the United States and give it an indisputable, final nuclear superiority over the USSR.

Now a very large segment of the scientific community has responded to the President’s request, although their answer 1s not likely to give him much pleasure.

Inzea tightly-argued report entitled ““Space-Based Missile Defence” the 9,000-member Union of Concerned Sci- entists has exhaustively examined the feasibility and potential of BMD and space warfare. It finds that the presi- dent’s plans are dangerously unwork- able, on both technical and_ political grounds.

“A magic force-field that surrounds the United States and protects it against all enemies is attractive if you are fond of magic’’, says astronomer Carl Sagan, one of the authors of the report. ‘‘But in the real world we find that there are very serious problems for such a notion”’.

Even under perfect conditions, the re- port points out, there is certain to be

some ‘‘leakage’’ in any BMD system. * While Pentagon officials do not seem too

perturbed about this problem, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ calculations show that just. five per cent of nuclear warheads slipping past the ‘‘defence’’

Scientists fear Star War plans .

network would result in over 60 million American casualties! Ten per cent ‘‘leakage’’ — not an unreasonable pos- sibility —could leave up to 70 per cent of the U.S. population dead.

However, perfect conditions will not prevail. As the report notes, the U.S. plan for a BMD program assumes that the USSR will take no countermeasures. It is based, as Carl Sagan suggests, on ‘the fallacy of the last move: the idea that if there is only one more move in the endless arms race, then all will be well’.

In fact, says the report ‘‘the Soviets have made it clear that they view the quest for a total BMD as an unacceptable threat. They fear that such a BMD sys- tem would give us the option to strike

__ first —an understandable fear since (De-

fence Secretary) Weinberger has said

American artist’s conception of anti-missile warfare — from U.S. News & World Report.

that he would view a similar Soviet sys- tem as ‘one of the most frightening pros- pects’ imaginable ... In the real world we must therefore expect a determined Soviet reaction, unconstrained by all existing agreements, because the: very testing of our defensive weapons would violate our obligations under the ratified Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty’’. The report goes on to detail a number of effective countermeasures that the USSR could take to thwart American BMD efforts. The U.S. would be forced to take counter-countermeasures. The net result would be a massive, stagger- ingly complex and expensive arms race in several entirely new categories of weapons. * “Even if we get through this hazar- dous passage’’, asks the report, “‘will we

have reached the promised land where nuclear weapons are ‘impotent and ob- solete’? Obviously not. We would then have a defence of stupefying complexity, under the total control of a computer program whose proportions defy de- scription, and whose performance will remain a deep mystery until the tragic’ moment when it would be called into action’’.

Moreover, notes the report, none of the planned BMD measures will be effec- tive against Cruise missiles or de- pressed-trajectory ballistic missiles, much less the upcoming generation of undetectable STEALTH weapons. The development of BMD systems is only likely to accelerate the race in these categories of highly destabilizing, unverifiable weapons.

There can be no _ technocratic “‘solutions”’ to the central human prob- lem of the arms race, concludes the re- port. The decision to go ahead with a BMD system for the U.S., even if it can be made to work, will only intensify the

_military contest that holds the Earth’s

population increasingly at risk.

“It is difficult to imagine a more hazar- dous confrontation. And it is equally dif- ficult to understand how anyone can be- lieve that this is the path toward a less dangerous world.

‘A direct and safe road is there for all to see — equitable and verifiable deep - cuts in strategic offensive forces and immediate negotiations to ban all space weapons.

“If we are to take this road, we must abandon the misconception that nuclear explosives are military weapons, and the illusion that ever more sophis- ticated technology can, by itself, remove the perils that science and technology have created.

‘“‘We must, instead, recognize the overriding reality of the nuclear age — that we cannot regain safety by cleverly sawing off the thin, dry branch on which the Soviets are perched, for we cling to the same branch.”’

A Rheinsberg rses on past

No matter where you go in East Germany you are

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aware of history. Each town, village and hamlet has made a unique contribution to the past, for good or for evil. When one goes north from Berlin, into the land of the former semi-feudal aristocarcy, the Junkers, one can almost smell history.

About 50 kilometres from Berlin lies the town of Rheinsberg. It was founded 650 years ago as a trading centre and place of craftsmen’s shops. Eventually, pot- tery, drugs and timber industries were established there, before the turn of the century.

I spoke to the mayor of Rheinsberg, Dr. Peter Ort- mann. A quiet, unassuming, middle-aged man; he is a graduate economist who can rattle off the facts and figures about his ancient town. I learned that despite being a centre for the reactionary countryside, it had strong working class traditions. The pottery industry union had been led by militant workers for about a hun- dred years.

In 1920, the workers of Rheinsberg organized a militia battalion to oppose a fascist putsch. At that time, a conference of agricultural workers in the district was organized there by the Communist Party of Germany. In 1923, during the inflation crisis, many clashes occurred with the police. The town became known as “‘Red Rheinsberg.”’

Since 1945, Rheinsberg began a transformation, as did the surrounding countryside. Today, the town has a population of 5,300 inhabitants, of whom 3,000 are em-

ployees in various industries, the chief of which are for the manufacture of micro-electronic components and pharmaceuticals, and a nuclear-power research and training centre: The latter would be similar.to our Chalk River nuclear establishment, with a small generator that has functioned without serious defect for the past 17 years.

The countryside farming output mainly goes to feed Berlin. Besides grain, vegetable and animal production,

the co-operative farmers also boast six large green-

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GDR leader Erich Honecker (right) views unveiling of Ernst T!

houses that specialize in tomatoes and cucumbers for the big city market. The 100-metre long, glass buildings are working to full capacity to meet the demand. Berlin is also a steady market for meat and milk from the co-op farms.

Rheinsberg is not only an industrial’ and farming centre, it is also ideally located for a tourist industry. The lush countryside contains many lakes and tourist homes. Last year some 15,000 holidaymakers spent their vaca- tions in this district.

Beside a lake, closé to Rheinsberg, a new 1,100-bed holiday home was completed last year. Built by the FDGB (Confederation of Free German Trade Unions) it was primarily designed to accommodate large families. Named after famed communist leader Ernst Thaelmann, it boasts a huge kitchen, restaurant, dining hall and

halmann plaque at opening of holiday resort in Rhensberg.

lounge, with bar. There is a club-room on each of the eight fioors and numerous outdoor recreation facilities in season. In the basement, bowling alleys and table tennis facilities are used the year around.

The normal cost for holidaymakers here in 190 marks (about $95) for 13 days; 30 marks for children up to 16 years. A most unusual feature of this FDGB tourist - resort is that in the off-season nine months of the year, it has been a treatment centre for the victims of fascism, mostly elderly workers and farmers. Three doctors and nine nurses supervise their three-week stay and ac- tivities, which mainly consist of walking in the nearby forests, sauna and therapeutic pools. It costs the seniors nothing. The FDGB sends quotas to district committees of the union, who in co-operation with the Department of Health, make reservations from among the elderly appli- cants.

So Rheinsberg, which is near the site of the notorious _ Sachsenhausen concentration camp, is not only con- scious of the inhumanity and brutality of the past, but is making amends in a very positive way. Tens of thou- sands of anti-fascist Germans were the first victims of the Nazi sadists. They were murdered, or literally starved and worked to death, at Sachsenhausen. It is in their memory the Ernst Thaelmann holiday home was dedi- cated. A fitting symbol for the future.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 9, 1984 e 7