The US is pressing ahead with its missile defence system, despite widespread international criticism. Mark Tran and Derek Brown explain why.
Missile defence is a totem for the American right, even after the end of the cold war.
China and Russia in particular believe the project will oblige them to beef up their own defences, at massive cost. Several European countries also believe that Washington's move could spark a new arms race, and throw doubt on longstanding US-Soviet arms control treaties. Bush says the world has nothing to fear, and that America's allies could benefit - not least from cuts he is proposing in the US nuclear arsenal. Not exactly, though the old Strategic Defence Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars, also relied on satellites to detect incoming enemy missiles. The SDI scheme was to deploy counter-missiles in space.