Poland, US sign contentious missile-shield deal (2nd Roundup)

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Aug 20, 2008, 12:49 GMT

Warsaw - Poland and the United States on Wednesday signed a deal to set up a missile defence base on Polish soil, part of a planned US system in eastern Europe that has inflamed tension with Russia. US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice (L) and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (R) shake hands after signing a deal on deployment of US anti-missile shield elements in Warsaw, Poland, 20 August 2008. The agreement will now be sent to parliament to undergo ratification procedure and later it will be signed by the President. EPA/TOMASZ GSELL POLAND OUT

US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice (L) and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (R) shake hands after signing a deal on deployment of US anti-missile shield elements in Warsaw, Poland, 20 August 2008. The agreement will now be sent to parliament to undergo ratification procedure and later it will be signed by the President. EPA/TOMASZ GSELL POLAND OUTAfter more than a year of tough bargaining, Poland formally agreed to host 10 US missile interceptors in return for a pledge of US military aid, including Patriot air defence missiles. 'It is really not just a historic occasion, but an extraordinary occasion,' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after she and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski signed the deal in Warsaw. 'Our countries, Poland and the United States, will be more secure,' said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The Czech Republic is to host the other part of the system, a tracking radar near the German border. If parliaments in both nations agree, the project means the two former Soviet-bloc nations will get their first US military bases. Russia has fiercely opposed the planned shield, despite repeated US assurances that it would defend Europe and the United States against missile threats from 'rogue nations' like Iran, not target Moscow's strategic nuclear arsenal. Some 65 per cent of the Polish public now think their country should fear Russia, said a poll published in the daily Wyborcza on Wednesday. The majority polled, however, had no fear of Iran, North Korea, China or Germany. Polish President Lech Kaczynski has called the recent Russia- Georgia conflict a 'very strong argument' for a missile shield deal. The timing has also drawn criticism, including from Moscow, that the accord could be seen as Poland's response to Russia's military assault on Georgia - a link denied by the two chief negotiators after they initialed the deal on Thursday. Poland bargained hard for US military aid, particularly for a boost in its air defences after Moscow threatened to target the planned missile-shield bases in its former satellites. With an upcoming US presidential election in November, some said George W Bush's imminent departure from the White House also pushed the deal through. Some Polish officials hinted the next president might be less inclined to strike a bargain with Poland. The interceptors are designed to destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles in space. In contrast, the Patriots sought by Poland are theatre defence weapons with a range of about 70 kilometres. Earlier, Rice insisted that the missile shield posed no threat to Russia. 'We're talking about a missile defence system that couldn't possibly be aimed at the Russian nuclear deterrent,' she told the BBC on Tuesday. 'Russia has thousands of nuclear warheads. This is for small missile attacks of the kind that Iran might launch.' The Pentagon expects the missile shield to be in full operation by 2013. To blunt Russian fears, the US offered Russia to join the project or inspect the planned sites. Sikorski last week renewed 'our offer' for Russian inspections. He also reached out to Moscow, while denouncing its 'brutal' assault in Georgia. 'When the smoke has cleared after the battle, we will stay neighbours,' he wrote in the Polish daily Fakt. While the US plan has been unpopular among Czechs and Poles, latest polls in Poland show that opinion had swung in favour of the shield in the wake of the fighting over South Ossetia between Russia and Georgia. In a sign that Poland's government - although more EU-friendly than the previous one - wants stronger ties with the US, the agreement included a pledge of US military cooperation sought by the Poles. The document says the US is 'committed to the security of Poland and any US facilities on the territory of Poland,' Tusk said at the signing ceremony. Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said Wednesday that the Polish military supports placing the Patriots near Warsaw to protect the 'administrative, political and military centres of our nation.' The Bush administration began sounding out Poland and the Czech Republic about four years ago. Formal talks with Poland began in May 2007, but they hit a snag after Tusk came to power in November and sought an improved deal for Poland. Kaczynski called the signing an 'important day' in Polish history during a televised address to the nation Tuesday. Poland had taken a step to 'strengthen its position in the world,' he said.

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SP4: perfectAug 20th, 2008 - 14:49:51

...and the Ruskies did it all for us!

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Robert ChapmanAug 20th, 2008 - 14:54:23

Europe has enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity and is recoiling in horror from its mistakes of siding with the Bush Administration in their endless wars.

The decision to place American missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic can only be seen as a provocative against the Russians. It is totally without merit. Europe should not allow itself to be further drawn into the regional wars in the trans-Caucasus.

The NATO allies must make it clear to America that they are in a defensive and geographically bounded alliance among equals. NATO can longer continue providing cannon fodder for American adventurism.

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SP4: well, Mr. ChapmanAug 20th, 2008 - 15:11:55

..that would all be fine if one thing had anything to do with the other.

The fact is, Europe and the USA bent over backwards to accomodate Russia into the prosperous, democratic group of nations that NATO represents and then Russia goes paranoid, and regresses 45 years. We provided economic assistance, military cooperation, cultural exchange and promoted trade with what could have been the fastest growing most productive trade block in the world.

Instead, they have sided with the old Bolshevik hardliners, and that ex KGB stalinist, to roll back the clock 5 decades. They are setting up Iran as a nuclear proxy, bullying their former satellite states, and flexing 45 year old muscle, playing power politics with energy, all for the goofiest of reasons.

Now, the Mongoloid Russians have decided they are more comfortable with a cold war, a situation that will exacerbate what wishing cannot seem to make go away. There is no way they can win, with the combined GDP of the EU and the USA, plus Japan, so it is already over. The problem is none of this has to be this way.

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lanceAug 20th, 2008 - 17:03:20

The missile shield deal makes no sense. It is politically stupid and technologically stupid. First off, it does not work and second: (if it did work) it is easily defeated by other more practical and cheaper means.

This is just a bunch of posturing by greedy power hungry notoriety seekers, much like Brittany Spears. Brittany gains notoriety via sex, while Bush, et. al, get it via killing. I personally think Brittany's way is more in line with what jesus would prefer, given the two options.

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SP4: Well Lance..a lot has changedAug 20th, 2008 - 17:48:25

...missile defense tech has become very reliable, in the last five years. In test after test they have come up with reliable kill ratios. Besides Lance, what other mission would be more imprtant for any nations military than to protect their populations from thermonuclear annialtation? See the issue here?

Having said that, I'd have to agree this is a Bush political football, designed to be a slap to Russia's making Iran a nuclear proxy. Take a swipe at Bush and the first thing he does is take a swipe back. Everyone, by now knows, no matter what, if you take a swipe at Bush, you are guaranteed to get a swipe back.

Guaranteed.

We could put these on ships and put them in the Baltic, or the Med., etc., but that wouldn't really be the point now, would it?

As for Brittany..I haven't a clue...?

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CharlesAug 20th, 2008 - 17:57:42

OK. Lance said it didn't/won't work. Since he is such an authority on the subject I guess the issue is settled.

Thanks Lance! Is there anything you can't do?

The shield isn't intended to stop 1000 Russian ICBM's. It would probably be overwhelmed with a dozen. What it would do is strategically neutralize any Iranian launch threat against Europe.

PS - Don't believe a word the Russian government says about anything.

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lanceAug 21st, 2008 - 01:48:16

'Thanks Lance! Is there anything you can't do?'

I have no intention of stopping Bush from making an ass of himself. The more Bush does it, the more I am right. And, it feels good to be right.

'What it would do is strategically neutralize any Iranian launch threat against Europe.'

That statement is a joke. If it were true then Israel would already have it installed. The fact is: Even Israel knows the defense system is bogus.

And furthermore, no threat like that exists and will not exist for at least 10 years, if ever. The defense system is intended to pad wallets for payoff and no more than that.

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Poland, US sign contentious missile-shield deal (2nd Roundup)

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