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I'm ok with this. If the Czechs don't want us there, we shouldn't force our way in. Of course, it's not an easy decision when the majority of the public says no and the government says yes, but I still feel it's an adequate decision.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090917/...issile_defense
PRAGUE – Czechs and Poles expressed rancor and relief Thursday that President Barack Obama had scrapped plans for a U.S. missile defense shield on their territories, reflecting deep divisions over a proposal that had angered Russia.
NATO's new chief hailed the move as "a positive step" and a Russian analyst said Obama's decision will increase the chances that Russia will cooperate more closely with the United States in the heated dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
Ex-leaders in the Czech Republic and Poland bristled at Obama's reversal, saying it reinforced a growing impression that Washington no longer views the region as indispensable to U.S. and European security interests. Yet many ordinary citizens who had been skeptical of the shield's benefits expressed relief that the system wouldn't be built on their soil.
"It is a big victory for the Czech Republic. We are happy that we will be able to continue to live in our beautiful country without the presence of foreign soldiers," said Jan Tamas, an activist who had organized numerous protests.
Jiri Paroubek, chairman of the Social Democrats and a major missile defense opponent, also called it "excellent news."
The two countries' governments had endorsed the plan to put 10 interceptor rockets in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. The Bush administration had pitched the system as a strategic defense to counter a perceived threat from Iran.
But the U.S. plan had deeply angered Russia, which expressed outrage that missiles would be stationed so close to its borders.
Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer announced Thursday that Obama phoned him overnight to say that "his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory."
Fischer told reporters that Obama assured him that the "strategic cooperation" between the Czech Republic and the U.S. would continue, and that Washington considers the Czechs among its closest allies.
In Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Obama assured him in a phone call Thursday that U.S. plans to alter the missile defense project will not hurt Poland's security.
Tusk quoted Obama as saying the "proposal of an alternative strategy should not affect the security of Poland" or of Europe. He refused to elaborate pending Obama's announcement of the decision.
Fischer said after a review of the missile defense system, the U.S. now considers the threat of an attack using short- and mid-range missiles greater than one using long-range rockets.
"That's what the Americans assessed as the most serious threat" and Obama's decision was based on that, he told reporters.
Scrapping missile defense comes as a huge setback to many Polish and Czech leaders, who viewed it as a way to strengthen their military ties with the U.S. as a form of defense against a resurgent Russia.
Fears of Moscow run especially deep in Poland, highlighted by a key anniversary Thursday. Exactly 70 years ago — on Sept. 17, 1939 — Poland was invaded by the Soviet Union at the start of World War II.
Thursday's decision is another sign that "the Americans are not interested in this territory as they were before," said Mirek Topolanek, a former Czech prime minister whose government signed treaties with the United States to set up the shield.
"It's not good," said former Polish president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.
"I can see what kind of policy the Obama administration is pursuing towards this part of Europe," Walesa said. "The way we are being approached needs to change."
Aleksander Szczyglo, head of Poland's National Security Office, characterized the change as a "defeat primarily of American long-distance thinking about the situation in this part of Europe."
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said "we were assured" that the U.S. was taking steps that should "improve security of NATO members, including the Czech Republic."
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he talked Thursday with the top American envoy to NATO about the changes to the missile defense plan and all NATO members would be briefed later in the day.
"It is my clear impression that the American plan on missile defense will involve NATO .... to a higher degree in the future," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. "This is a positive step in the direction of an inclusive and transparent process, which I also think is in the interest of ... the NATO alliance."
Russia was livid over the prospect of having U.S. interceptor rockets in countries so close by, and the Obama administration has sought to improve strained ties with the Kremlin. Obama is scheduled to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev next week as the two attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
"The U.S. president's decision is a well-thought out and systematic one," said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. "It reflects understanding that any security measure can't be built entirely on the basis of one nation."
"Now we can talk about restoration of the strategic partnership between Russia and the United States," Kosachev added.
Alexei Arbatov, head of the Russian Academy of Science's Center for International Security, said Thursday the U.S. was giving in on missile defense to get more cooperation from Russia on Iran.
"The United States is reckoning that by rejecting the missile defense system or putting it off to the far future, Russia will be inclined together with the United States to take a harder line on sanctions against Iran," he said.
Obama took office undecided about the European system and said he would study it.
In a speech in April in Prague, Obama said Washington would proceed with developing the system as long as Iran posed a threat to U.S. and European security. But a top military leader, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, recently suggested the U.S. may have underestimated how long it would take Iran to develop long-range missiles.
The Czech government had stood behind the planned radar system despite fierce opposition from the public. Some critics feared the country would be targeted by terrorists if it agreed to host the radar system, which was planned for the Brdy military installation 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Prague, the capital.
The decision to scrap the plan is sure to have future consequences for U.S. relations with eastern Europe.
"If the administration approaches us in the future with any request, I would be strongly against it," said Jan Vidim, a lawmaker with Czech Republic's conservative Civic Democratic Party, which supported the missile defense plan.
I'm ok with this. If the Czechs don't want us there, we shouldn't force our way in. Of course, it's not an easy decision when the majority of the public says no and the government says yes, but I still feel it's an adequate decision.
I don't give a about the Czech Republic. We need to start looking out for us and stop pissing off states that can actually hurt us, like Russia.
Russia would never nuke Poland -- unless they had a missile defense system.
This is moronic. Gates said that there would be an emphasis instead on ship based systems, which is fine so long as you keep the land based component. You don't go around making long term agreements and then backing out. Europe is an old place with a long memory, and this particular part has recently undergone a long, brutal domination by formerly Soviet Russia. With Putin invading Georgia last summer over trumped up bull , it's more important now than ever to show our eastern European allies that we don't fear the Russians, and will move forward with agreements regardless of Russian crying. This whole defense system may have been about the Iranian threat, but there is always going to be an element that involves the Russians when it's in their former sphere of influence. This will rightly be perceived in Poland and the Czech Republic as backing down to the Russians.
There must be a back room deal going down somewhere between us and the Russians. Perhaps the recent news that the Russians were going to help Chavez with a, "peaceful civilian Nuclear program", had something to do with it. Just imagine that nut-job with a nuclear program.
If Russia ever fired ICBMs at Poland or the Czechs, the entire EU would go to war against them. We wouldn't have to do a thing. It's not our job to police Europe, especially not when they can more than fend for themselves now.
Instead of spending money abroad, and pissing everyone off, why shouldn't we focus on more of our domestic problems? How does building an anti-missile program that will never be used half a world away help our economy?
Pretty much where I come out on this. I'm fine with Obama dumping the program.
No more Nazis. No more Red Hordes.
No more US subsidizing European defense.
/argument
Nicely put.
Good way to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Russia invading Poland.
Stratfor has a good book led "the Next 100 Years", he has some really good articles about why this is bad for America in the next 20 to 50 to 100 years. I'll look for it. The book is atleast three years old and is not political.
Yeah europe would stand up together and fight back just like they did with Hitler.
Brother, I could not have said it better.
Let's stop pissing people off and wasting tax money. We got to do here at home.
Great 8 minutes. No politics
Nothing like stabbing your allies in the back on the 70th anniversary of them getting invaded. What a wuss we have in the Oval Office.
Oh, and it's not just about this. Next up will be us turning our back on the likes Taiwan, Israel, and probably South Korea.
Who are we stabbing in the back again? What did Dubya do when Russia invaded a sovereign nation-state?
You're right, the situations are exactly the same. Germany is one dictator away from ruling all of Europe again. Russia has a military and economy poised on world domination. They're even ahead of the U.S. in science!
So I guess the fact that NO ONE in the EU wants this missile defense system has anything to do with it? Does the fact that the Czech Republic and Poland are celebrating the relaxation of U.S. policy here have anything to do with the situation?
Oh, and it's not just about this. Next up will be us turning our back on the likes Taiwan, Israel, and probably South Korea.
For our president stabbing them in the back, they're certainly doing a lot of celebrating about it.
....we canceled a missile defense system that didn't work - Yippie!You're right, the situations are exactly the same. Germany is one dictator away from ruling all of Europe again.
Given your example, we don't need missile defense, right? We can just take over when stuff goes bad. It worked well last time. Thanks for proving this was a good move Micca!
How is it stabbing them in the back when the majority of citizens don't want the program there?
Oh, and it's not just about this. Next up will be us turning our back on the likes Taiwan, Israel, and probably South Korea.
You're right. The situations are identical! The Balkanized Europe of the 30s is EXACTLY the same as the mono-block of the EU that is essentially one country today!
You're not really that stupid, are you?
Stupid? I'm not the one that said Russia invaded Poland in 1939, was I? Was the word Blitzkreig coined to show the speed and efficiency of the Russian invasion of Poland? Nope. They were politically complicit, but that's not really the same thing at all as an invasion.
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