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US to cancel European Missile Shield Plan

CougarKing

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I am aware there is an older thread about this already, but my search function doesn't work for some reason and it would take a while to dig through all the older threads in this section to find it. The mods are welcome to merge this with that or another thread.


U.S. Drops European Missile Shield Plan: Czech PM
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 17 Sep 2009 06:56 

PRAGUE - U.S. President Barack Obama said in a phone call that the U.S government has given up its plan to build a missile shield in Europe, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer told reporters September 17.

"U.S. President Barack Obama called me shortly after midnight to tell me his government was giving up its intention to build a radar base on Czech soil," Fischer said.

"The Czech Republic has acknowledged this decision," he added.
 
From CNN. Polish reaction is....interesting

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/17/united.states.missile.shield/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN)  -- The Obama administration will scrap the controversial missile defense shield program in Eastern Europe, a senior administration official confirmed to CNN Thursday.

The U.S. has been testing the ability of ground-based interceptor missiles to hit long-range ballistic missiles.

The comment followed similar statements from officials in Poland and the Czech Republic -- where key elements of the system were to be located -- but was the first confirmation from an American official.

Vice President Joe Biden earlier refused to confirm to CNN that the George W. Bush-era plan was being shelved.

But he did explain the logic of doing so, saying Iran -- a key concern for the United States -- was not a threat.

"I think we are fully capable and secure dealing with any present or future potential Iranian threat," he told CNN's Chris Lawrence in Baghdad, where he is on a brief trip.

"The whole purpose of this exercise we are undertaking is to diminish the prospect of the Iranians destabilizing that region in the world. I am less concerned -- much less concerned -- about the Iranian potential. They have no potential at this moment, they have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America," he said.

Biden said he is "deeply" involved in the review of the missile defense program. See how the system would work » | See a map of the proposed sites »

The Bush administration had cited the perceived nuclear threat from Iran as one of the key reasons it wanted to install the missile shield in eastern Europe.

The U.S. reversal is likely to please Russia, which had fiercely opposed the plans.

Is the U.S. right to scrap plans for a missile defense shield in Europe? Sound Off below

A U.S. delegation held high-level meetings Thursday in both Poland and the Czech Republic to discuss the missile defense system. While the outcome of the meetings wasn't clear, officials in both countries confirmed the system would be scrapped.

Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer said in a statement that U.S. President Barack Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans. Fischer did not say what reason Obama gave him for reconsidering.

A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.

"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. James E. Cartwright, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to hold a news conference Thursday morning. The Defense Department has not announced what will be discussed, but Cartwright is the point man for the missile defense shield program.

Poland and the Czech Republic had based much of their future security policy on getting the missile defenses from the United States. The countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia -- and may now look for other defense assurances from their NATO allies.

"At the NATO summit in April, we adopted a resolution focusing on building a defense system against real, existing threats, i.e. short-range and medium-range missiles," Fischer said. "We expect that the United States will continue cooperating with the Czech Republic on concluding the relevant agreements on our mutual (research and development) and military collaboration, including the financing of specific projects."

By contrast, Russia may view the move as a diplomatic victory after complaining about the program consistently for years.

There was no comment Thursday morning from Russian officials. But the issue has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Moscow, with Russia believing the shield would ultimately erode its own strategic nuclear deterrent.

With the program scrapped, it opens the way for Russia to join with the United States in taking a harder line on Iran, CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance reported from Moscow.

The United States proposed the plans under then-President George W. Bush, but since taking over this year, the Obama administration has been reviewing whether to move ahead with them.

The missile shield issue came up in July during a meeting between Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. Obama maintained that Russia had nothing to fear from such a system, which would be designed to intercept a solitary missile from Iran or North Korea, as opposed to "a mighty Russian arsenal."
 
Catastrophic? Seeing as i live here (in Poland), the reality is no one really cares. There are too many other concerns - the economic situation, health care, education, a coal mining disaster in the south - and the idiots that are the government. Poland's biggest catastrophe is its coalition style of government: mostly nothing gets done that is of benefit, while what does get done (usually not beneficial to most concerned) cannot be traced to any particular group of politicos. There is no accountability. It is not a first world country, but rather a well run third world one: with its cronyism, nouvelle aristocracy, lack of planning and foresight.
 
"the countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia"

lol..... i wonder if this same guy that said that the sheild had nothing to do with Russia two weeks ago...
 
Well it's natural based on history isn't it?  But these idiots that are the Polish government do not move on. Poland is in a unique situation for cross-border trade - its geographical disadvantage (historically) is an advantage given states of quasi-peace or what-ever term you prefer. Unfortunately these idiots will not put much investment into public roads, or rail infrastructure; they will have little connection with the common man and have politicized pretty well all branches of the public service: directors of schools for example, are political appointees. Socially, all is neglected - social ill are in their mind, the realm of the church - and the church has little concern for the poor. Instead of refighting wars of decades passed, the Polish government should be dealing with the present day. What is the role of government: governance and accountability. Anyone with common sense would have realized and did realize that this missile defense shield was a shaky deal, and the Polish government should have had a fall-back plan - but not these twits.  They are the prefect example of why coalition governments do not work: all talk, no positive action, no responsibility, no follow-up.
 
Another development:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_missile_defense

Russia says it won't deploy missiles near Poland
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 2 mins ago

MOSCOW – Russia said Saturday it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran's president for new comments denying the Holocaust.

Neither move, however, represented ceding any significant ground. A plan to place Iskander missiles close to the Polish border was merely a threat. And while the Kremlin has previously criticized Tehran for questioning the reality of the Holocaust, Russian leaders have refused to back Western push for tougher sanctions against Iran.

It still remains unclear whether Moscow will make any significant concessions on Iran and other issues in response to President Barack Obama's move to scrap the Bush-era plan for U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic.


Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that Obama's move has made the deployment of Iskander short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad region unnecessary.

(...)

Obama's decision to scrap the plan was based largely on a new U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran's effort to build a nuclear-capable long-range missile would take three to five years longer than originally thought, U.S. officials said. The new U.S. missile-defense plan would rely on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air as a bulwark against Iranian short- and medium-range missiles.

Medvedev hailed Obama's decision as a "responsible move," but Russian officials have given no indication yet that Moscow could make concessions in other areas, including Iran. Washington is counting on Moscow to help raise pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry harshly criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his Friday's comments in which he again questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko called the Iranian remarks "absolutely unacceptable" and insulting to the memory of the World War II victims.

(...)
 
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