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University of World Peace offers ‘True missile defence shield’

University of World Peace, press statement, 23 February 2001

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University President, Dr Schanbacher, charges Bush with nuclear brinkmanship

Today, Dr Volker Schanbacher, renowned physicist and President of the new University of World Peace, presented a "practical and peaceful alternative to America's dangerous and highly controversial National Missile Defence shield [NMD]".

"This $60 billion NMD is exactly what the world doesn't need. It is costly, ineffective, destabilising, and is certain to trigger a new arms race that will increase the threat of nuclear conflagration," Dr. Schanbacher said. "I understand the desire of a government to protect its citizens, but the NMD is a path to destruction."

The University of World Peace, conceived and founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is the first university in the world dedicated solely to the prevention of war and to advancing the science of peace. "Our University provides a much-needed counterbalance to the proliferation of military academies and graduate war colleges, dedicated to advancing the science of war," Dr Schanbacher said.

"We will create a new generation of leadership trained in the most up-to-date, powerful peacekeeping technologies, and rescue the world from warmongers and leaders who are in the pocket of weapons manufacturers.

"This University comes at a critical time. Scientific advances have made it possible for even small countries or small groups of individuals to threaten the security of entire nations," Dr Schanbacher said. "Conventional means of defence, including the high-tech missile defence shield, are increasingly irrelevant. With the rise in terrorism, and biological and chemical weapons, it is more crucial than ever that we do everything in our power to prevent the outbreak of war.

"The only way to prevent war is to prevent the birth of an enemy. To prevent the birth of an enemy, we must neutralize the high levels of racial, ethnic and religions tensions that underlie social conflict," Dr Schanbacher said. "For this, the University of World Peace is creating a new profession in the world: that of professional 'peacemakers' individuals with the responsibility and capability to resolve these underlying tensions and promote peace throughout the world.

"Military interventions and negotiated treaties have proven utterly ineffective," Dr Schanbacher said. "They fail to address the underlying cause of violence."

Dr Schanbacher called for the creation of groups of experts in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programme of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose collective practice has proven highly effective in reducing societal stress and conflict.

"Extensive research published in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals has shown that even a small proportion of a population practising these programmes dramatically reduces violent conflict. For example, this approach was used on seven consecutive occasions during the Lebanon war, where it produced an average 80% drop in war deaths and war-related injuries."

Drawing upon the latest understanding of physics, Dr Schanbacher explained how such groups create the equivalent of a "Meissner Effect" -an indomitable influence of coherence and positivity which neutralizes negative influences from within or outside the nation, preventing the birth of an enemy.

"These groups will create a true defence shield -an invincible defence against any threat of military aggression," Dr Schanbacher said.

Global in scope, the University of World Peace will create campuses in key population centres around the world. These campuses themselves will serve as "centres of coherence," in which thousands of students, faculty and staff will practise these powerful technologies of consciousness, and generate an indomitable influence of coherence and harmony throughout the world.

Dr Schanbacher concluded with strong words for President Bush: "Pushing for a national missile defense system that jeopardises global security is nationalism at its worst -the sort of blind nationalism that once swallowed my country, Germany. The world can ill-afford to see the rise of another Hitler."