Discussing missile defence

18 Apr 2007 - On Thursday, 19 April 2007, a reinforced meeting of the North Atlantic Council was held at NATO HQ in Brussels. The purpose of this session was to exchange views on missile defence.

On the same day missile defence was also discussed at the reinforced meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at ambassadorial level.

Click here to watch the discussion.

more on nato missile defense.

U.S. fails to convince Russia on missile shield in Europe

BRUSSELS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States failed on Thursday to convince Russia on Washington's plan to deploy missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe.

"I would like to underscore that possible deployment of U.S. missile defense site in Europe is not something pleasant to us," Russian ambassador to NATO, Konstantin Totskiy, told reporters after a meeting with ambassadors from NATO countries and U.S. officials.

"We are against the fact that such decisions are taken just unilaterally."

But he added that Russia will not be engaged in an arms race with the United States as its predecessor, the Soviet Union, did in the Cold War.

Russia would rather develop a cheaper "asymmetrical answer" to possible threats posed by the U.S. deployment, said the ambassador.

Totskiy said Russian and American experts hold different views on missile threats to Europe.

The two sides diverge on how soon the threats will come and the scale of them, he said. They also differ on the missile capability of Iran, which the United States has named as a possible source of threat.

Moscow has also concerns that the United States may increase the number of interceptor missiles.

The U.S. and NATO have been saying that the 10 interceptors planned for deployment in Poland do not pose a threat to Russia at all.

Totskiy argued that no nation, even a so-called rogue state, will be able to launch a massive missile attack on Europe unless it has 100 or even several hundred missiles.

Therefore, he argued, the U.S. might have to have more interceptors to shield Europe.

"We know by experience that when we have a system, we will continue its development because the system cannot stop at a point."

Russia's proposal in this situation is to use diplomatic and political measures to prevent certain countries from having so many missiles, he said.

On U.S. offers to have more cooperation with Russia in terms of missile defense, such as sharing early warning data, interoperability of theater missile defense systems and joint exercises, Totskiy said Russia is ready to cooperate, but only on equal footing.

The United States is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic for the deployment of interceptor missiles and a radar tracking system in the two countries respectively.

Washington says the system would be able to help most of its European allies fend off long-range missile attacks.

Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, and chief of the U.S. State Department's non-proliferation bureau, John Rood, presented the U.S. plans to its NATO allies and Russia.

Microsoft aims to double PC base

The OLPC project is also trying to bridge the digital divide

Microsoft software will sell for just $3 (£1.50) in some parts of
the world in an attempt to double the number of global PC users.

The firm wants to bring computing to a further one billion people by 2015.

Governments in developing countries can purchase the cut-price software, if they provide free PCs for schools.

Other companies and organisations are also trying to boost computer literacy in developing countries, notably the One Laptop per Child project.

The OLPC are in the final stages of developing a low cost, durable laptop, designed to
work specifically in an educational context.

Millions of laptops will be start to be delivered to developing nations this summer.

This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business Orlando Ayala

The eventual aim is to sell the machine to developing countries for $100 but the current cost of the machine is about $150.

The first countries to sign up to buying the machine, which is officially dubbed XO, include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Rwanda, Nigeria and Libya.

Business drive

The Microsoft initiative was launched by Bill Gates in Beijing under the banner of its Unlimited Potential scheme, a program aimed at bridging the digital divide.

The scheme aims to bring the benefit of computing technology to the remaining five sixths of the world's population, who currently live without it.

Intel have developed the low-cost Classmate PC

"Bringing the benefits of technology to the next five billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities," said
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. One of the first products, that is hoped will reach the next billion people is the Microsoft's student Innovation Suite.

The package includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office
Home and Student 2007, as well as other educational software.

The $3 package will start to be sold to governments in the second half of 2007.

"This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business," Orlando Ayala of Microsoft told the Reuter's news agency.

In many developing countries, pirated versions of Microsoft software are sold very cheaply.

Governments will be required to provide free computers to schools, capable of running Windows, to be eligible for the discounted software.

The scheme is one of many launched by organisations and big business to address the digital divide.

Search giant Google allows anyone to download its Google Apps, which includes spreadsheet, word processing and email programs, for free. In countries such as Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda, Google has also provided engineers and technical support.

In addition, chip-maker Intel has developed the Classmate PC, while its rival AMD has launched a scheme called 50x15 that aims to put computer technology in the hands of half of the world's population by 2015.