Former Reagan Ambassador Lambastes Missile Defense Project

March 20, 2013 • 9:57AM

Ambassador Jack Matlock, a former ambassador to the Soviet Union, attacked the planned European missile defense project which has aroused great concern in Russia. "The project is driven by the military-industrial complex and by some 'true believers,'"Matlock said. Matlock then went on to talk about the SDI project of President Reagan (during which period of time he was the NSC person responsible for Russia). The Reagan proposal, he explained, was a collaborative proposal. "If Gorbachev ever said, 'Let's do it together,' Reagan would have agreed," Matlock said.

Under present conditions, he warned, "if we do missile defense, we have to do it with Russia and China. We have to do it together. This is what we should be looking at. Competition in a globalizing world doesn't make much sense." Later during the Q&A, in reply to a question from EIR, Matlock elaborated on the SDI debate in the Reagan Administration, indicating some of the back and forth about the program and the connection to nuclear reductions. "It is absurd to the believe the myth that the 'SDI brought down the Soviet Union' or that it was an attempt to create a new arms race," Matlock said. "Reagan was willing to significantly reduce the nuclear arsenals, if he were able to proceed with the research on an SDI system. If it proved successful, he was willing to share it with the Russians. I asked Gorbachev in later years if there were any possibility that they missed finding common ground on the issue. Gorbachev indicated that he simply wanted to get rid of the program entirely."

Matlock also attacked the attempt by the U.S. to pull the countries surrounding Russia away from Russian influence. "We have to get off the kick that we determine the fate of the world. We have to bring China and Russia into a psychology of cooperation."

Matlock was speaking at a conference entitled : "Russia As a Global Power: Contending Views From Russia," sponsored by the Elliott School of International Affairs. A number of Russian speakers were present on all the panels, all of whom, however, expressed great concern over the conditions of US- Russia relations, and over the rather concerted attempt by the West to demonize the Putin Government.

The reaction on the U.S. side was also not as divided as one might think from the title. Even old Soviet-bashers like Leon Aron from Heritage said that they did not want to break relations with Russia in the areas where there was agreement. (Aron had previously written that the U.S. should take a "pause" in the re-set.) One of the American panelists, Wayne Merry, from the American Foreign Policy Council, indicated that the Pentagon, in particular, was very interested in creating better relations with Russia.